Fairytales
by kymbersmith90
Summary: What happens when you get that chance to finally meet the guy of your dreams?
1. Chapter 1

**HAPPY HOLIDAYS!**

 **This is something new I've been working on from time to time. It won't update as regularly as Read All About It, but I do have a few more written for it.**

* * *

"Remind me again why I let you talk me into this?" Ruby asked, as they shuffled forward slightly in the queue.

"It's a weekend away. Why wouldn't you wanna come?"

"Um, let me think?" Ruby replied sarcastically. "It couldn't be because you forgot to mention the long ass queues we'd be standing around in all weekend or how little time we'd actually have to do anything together?"

"I'm sorry Ruby. I just didn't want to do this alone." Emma hung her head a little, worried that she'd upset her friend.

Ruby pulled her into a side hug, squeezing her gently.

"It's okay, Ems. I know how much this weekend means to you. Ignore me. I turn into a right bitch when I've had no sleep, and am then forced to queue for hours on end."

Emma didn't feel much better but Ruby did lighten up on her after that. She even made polite conversation with the people around her. They were a little surprised to hear that she had never seen the show before, but they quickly moved on to topics that Ruby was familiar with. Fashion being one of them.

By the time they had collected their lanyards and wristbands, Ruby was in much higher spirits and tugged Emma along behind her in the direction of the bar.

"So, what happens now?" she asked, once she had a vodka and cola sat in front of her.

"According to the schedule they put out, nothing happens until karaoke tonight. But I'm tempted to skip it. I want a good night's sleep before tomorrow."

Ruby rolled her eyes at Emma, but didn't push her. She knew exactly why her best friend wanted as much beauty sleep as she could manage. If Ruby had any interest in what was happening that weekend, she'd have felt the same way. But she was there for Emma and that was it.

"So, you sure Neal doesn't know where we are?" she finally asked, breaking Emma's thought away from the schedule she had flattened out in front of her.

"No. He doesn't have a clue. He thinks we're shopping for a wedding dress." Emma hated lying to him, she really did. But she also knew there was no way Neal would have let her come for the weekend if she'd told him the truth.

"I wouldn't feel bad about lying to him Emma. You earn all the money in that relationship. If you wanna blow some on a weekend away then you should. God knows he spends plenty on that beloved car of his."

Ruby knew she was treading a thin line. She'd always made her dislike for Neal well known but Emma seemed to be blinded by her love for the man. She could never see his faults, no matter how many times they were pointed out to her.

"Don't be like that, Ruby. You know he struggles to find work," Emma defended.

"Yeah, because he knows everyone else will take care of him. If you're not paying his way, mommy and daddy are. He's lazy Ems. Face it."

Emma scowled down at her drink, suddenly wishing she'd come alone for the weekend.

"Can we not talk about Neal any more, please? I came here to get away from all of that, not to be lectured on my choice of partner."

Ruby at least had the decency to look contrite. The last thing she wanted to do that weekend was fall out with her best friend.

Thankfully, they were spared sitting in awkward silence by the arrival of some of the girls Ruby had befriended in line. They asked if Ruby and Emma wanted to join them for some drinks and Emma found herself happily agreeing. She had come for a weekend of fun, so she was going to make sure she left without any regrets.

Regina and Belle turned out to be wonderful people and Emma had a lot of fun with the girls, discussing everything from the show to the cities they had flown in from. Getting to be around new people, who didn't know her well, was refreshing. Storybrooke was such a small town that she'd grown up knowing everyone and with everyone knowing her.

"We're headed to karaoke now, are you going?" Belle asked, standing up from her seat.

Emma hesitated. She wanted to join her new friends, but she also wanted to call Neal and check in with him before she got a good night of sleep. She could tell that Ruby really wanted to go too. Karaoke was _not_ Emma's thing, but it was definitely Ruby's.

"You guys go. I have a few things I need to do tonight for work." Emma could tell by the look on Ruby's face that she knew Emma was bluffing, but she didn't call her friend out on it.

"I'll come back to the room with you," Ruby offered, standing up from her own seat.

"No, go to karaoke… Have fun. I'll be okay on my own." Emma didn't want to ruin Ruby's night. Especially after she'd dragged her away to a convention she had no interest in to begin with.

"Are you sure?" Ruby looked torn. Emma could tell that one part of her wanted to accompany her friend back to the hotel, but another part was giddy at the thought of being able to attend the karaoke with Regina and Belle.

"I'm sure. Go and have some fun. Take lots of pictures for me."

Ruby didn't need any more coercing. With a quick kiss to Emma's forehead, and a promise that Emma would text when she got back to the hotel room, she left arm in arm with Regina.

* * *

Emma was beginning to curse herself for not booking the convention hotel as she made the walk back to her own. She'd booked late for the convention, only having found out about them when _he_ tweeted about it, and all of the cheaper rate rooms had already been sold out.

When she finally made it back to her hotel, night had already set in and she knew Ruby would be worrying about her. She pulled out her phone as she hurried into the nearest elevator. While she tapped out a message to her best friend, Emma asked, "Could you hit the button for the forth floor for me, please?"

"Of course," came the reply, and Emma froze before her thumb could hit send.

She wasn't really sure what to do in that moment. A part of her wanted to lift her head fully to see if that voice belonged to the person she thought it did. But another part of her brain was screaming that it would be rude for her to stare.

"Are you okay? You look like you're having a panic attack." The voice beside her was closer now and Emma cursed herself as his hand came out to lightly grasp her elbow.

Of course she was having a fucking panic attack right now. Stuck in an elevator. With _him._

"Try taking some nice deep breaths for me. In… and out, that's right," he encouraged, his grip on her elbow tightening ever so slightly as she mimicked his breathing pattern. "If it makes you feel any better, me Mam goes through the same thing every time she steps foot in an elevator. She'll take the stairs if they have them, no matter how many flights she has to climb."

It really wasn't helping her in that moment, but she let out a shrill bark of laughter at the thought of it.

Just as Emma felt like she finally had herself back under control the elevator came to a stop, a ding signalling their arrival on her floor.

""Thanks for… that." She cringed at how stupid she sounded.

 _Was that the best she could manage?_

"No worries. I'd hate to see a beautiful woman suffer alone through that. Elevators don't do it for me but I've had my fair share of panic attacks before. You sure you're doing okay now?"

Emma wanted to reply. She _really_ did. But, instead, her mind was stuck on the word 'beautiful.' He'd called her beautiful.

She was startled out of her internal swooning by the sound of the elevator doors closing again and the jolt of movement.

"Shit. That was my floor."

 _Could nothing go right for her now?_

"It's okay," he assured her. "They go down as well as up, you know?" his gentle teasing had Emma cracking her first genuine smile of the evening. "That's better. I knew there was a beautiful smile to go with that pretty face."

Emma's face flamed bright red as she lifted her eyes slightly, turning to get her first full look at him since she'd stepped on the elevator.

And that was her biggest mistake of the evening.

"Holy fuck you're really pretty." The words left her mouth without her permission and she clamped her hand over it to stop any more verbal diarrhoea from leaking out.

He didn't seem to mind though, laughing at Emma's words and gently pulling her hand away from her face.

"Thank you. Although, I think if we're being truly honest here, you're the prettiest one on this elevator." He winked for effect and Emma's knees buckled. "Woah, are you sure you're okay?" he asked, his hand shooting out to stop her from face planting on the floor.

"Just a little shaken," Emma answered truthfully. He didn't need to know _he_ was the reason she was so shaken.

He was just about to open his mouth once more when the elevator shuddered to a halt and the bing once again announced their arrival, this time on his floor.

He hesitated for only a moment before finally asking, "My room's just down the hall. Do you wanna come in and sit down for a moment? I can have them send up some juice, see if we can get some colour back into you?"

Emma's brain was scream NO at her. Big capital letters flashing in neon lights. But what came out of her mouth was instead a hesitant, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah, come with me."

He placed a gentle hand on her lower back as he guided her out of the elevator and down the hall to his room. Emma hadn't been paying much attention to what floor they were on, but she knew that it was one of the top ones when he opened his door and ushered her in. He wasn't staying in a room like Ruby and Emma were, he was staying in a suite.

"Wow, this place is bigger than my apartment," Emma gaped, taking in the plush sofas and wide widows.

"Yeah, it's a little ostentatious," he mumbled, scratching behind his right ear. "I don't know why they keep booking such huge suites for me. It's just me."

"No girlfriend?" The words slipped out once again without Emma's permission.

"No, no girlfriend," he chuckled, setting his luggage into the corner of the room before he took a seat on the couch and patted the space next to him.

Emma made her way over cautiously, perching on the very edge of the seat. She didn't want to make herself comfortable because, apparently, being comfortable around him meant blurting out whatever was on her mind.

"How are you feeling now?" he asked, concern etched into every line of his face. "Do you want some juice? I can check and see what I have here if you want, or call down to the bar for something in particular?"

"Water would be good, thanks." Emma hadn't realised how dry her throat was until she asked for it.

He stood up gracefully, making his way over to the kitchen area of the suite before returning with two bottles of cold water.

"So, what brings you to Boston?" he asked conversationally, fiddling with the label on his bottle.

Emma panicked for a moment. She didn't want to flat out lie to him. But she also had a feeling that telling him the truth wouldn't help much either. In the end, her mouth made the decision for her and she blurted out, "I'm here for the convention."

"Oh." This time, he was the one who froze in shock. "So, um… you know who I am?" he asked, his hands wringing the neck of the water bottle.

Emma couldn't speak so she simply nodded her head.

For the longest moment, neither of them said anything. Emma fidgeted with the cuff of her jacket before finally, she couldn't take the silence any more.

"I'm gonna go… and sell my photo ops and autos with you for tomorrow. I'm so sorry." Her voice had started pretty loud but trailed off the longer she spoke and the closer she got to the door.

"Wait." The feel of his hand once again catching her elbow had Emma stopping dead in her tracks. "You don't have to do that."

"Sell my photo ops with you or go?" she asked, genuinely curious as she turned back to look at him.

"Both?" He sounded as unsure as she felt and it relaxed Emma a little.

"I should go, I've imposed on you enough tonight." Emma inched back towards the door as he reluctantly nodded his head in agreement.

"I'll see you tomorrow?" he asked, just as Emma's hand landed on the doorknob.

"Yeah. You will." She had just stepped over threshold when he stopped her one final time.

"Hey, I didn't get your name?" he called out.

"Emma. My name is Emma."

"It's nice to have met you Emma." He extended his hand and Emma took it to shake.

"You too, Mr. Jones."

"Killian. Call me Killian."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	2. Chapter 2

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

 **Thank you for the wonderful response to the first chapter.**

* * *

"Does this look okay?" Emma asked, twisting back and forth in the full-length mirror to get a good look at herself. "I feel like I'm over-dressed. Maybe I should change into some jeans or something."

"For the third time today, you look fine," Ruby groaned, from her position on the bed.

"You're not even looking in this direction."

"That's because no matter what I say, you're going to do what you want anyway. Just pick a damned outfit and let's go. I didn't pay all this money to come to Boston just to sit in a hotel room while you try on clothes. We could have done that at home." Ruby forced herself up and into a sitting position as she looked over to where Emma was standing.

Her friend had this time opted for a deep red sweater dress that she had paired with dark tights and a pair of black boots. The dress probably was a little too much for a convention, but Emma looked good and Ruby knew that was what she was aiming for.

"You look beautiful, Ems," she offered sincerely. "Who cares if you're over dressed? If you're happy and comfortable, then fuck them. But I do think you're missing something." Ruby got up and wandered over to her own bags. After rustling through them for a moment she finally stepped back with a black Panama hat in her hands.

"Oh no," Emma protested, holding up her hands. "That is definitely too much."

Ruby didn't listen. She pulled the hat down on her friend's head and span her around to face the mirror.

"There. You look perfect."

Emma had to begrudgingly admit that she didn't look so bad after all.

* * *

"Oh, fancy," Ruby complimented, as they took their seats in the main hall. "How did you manage to get such good seats if you booked so late?"

"They're more expensive than the other tickets. I guess everyone else didn't think it was worth the extra for front row," Emma admitted, a little shyly.

"How much more expensive?" Ruby cocked a curious eyebrow but Emma simply blushed and sat down in her designated seat. "So, what happens now?"

"Now, we wait for the first panel of the day."

"The guy you like?" Ruby teased.

Emma blushed bright red.

A huge part of her was still wondering if she'd dreamed what happened the night before. She had been a little tipsy and she hadn't eaten all day. It seemed like the only logical explanation.

"Yeah, it's him."

"Well… I can't wait." Ruby settled herself back into her seat and pulled out some snacks to keep them both entertained while they waited. "Why aren't all the seats full?" she asked, looking round the room. She never could keep still for long.

"It's a bonus panel for people who buy gold tickets. Nobody else has access to it."

"Ahh, so that's why it was worth the extra money." Ruby's knowing smile had Emma fidgeting in her seat. "You're such a fangirl."

They didn't have to wait long for things to get started. The MC quickly made his way on stage to a rapturous applause and Emma felt her heart kick up a notch. She shuffled forward a little in her seat and tried her hardest to ignore the look Ruby was throwing her way.

She knew she should have come alone.

The MC went through a brief list of rules and regulations, none of which Emma would remember once he left the stage. The more he spoke, the harder her heart hammered, knowing that _he_ was close by. Probably just behind _that_ curtain, which seemed ridiculously close.

"Anyway, I won't keep you waiting any longer," the MC finally announced. Emma could feel the atmosphere in the room shifting. Everyone knew what was coming next. "Ladies and gentlemen… Killian Jones."

Emma sucked in a deep breath as the small crowd around her went crazy.

 _Damn did he look good._

"Hey, he's not bad looking." Ruby gave her a gentle nudge with her elbow, her eyes firmly fixed on Killian. Emma couldn't bring herself to respond. She couldn't even take her eyes off him.

He was dressed casually in a dark purple shirt and dark jeans. But he looked stunningly beautiful. Emma was certain she'd never seen such a pretty man before in her life.

"Hey, how are you all doing?" he asked.

"Shit, you didn't mention the accent."

Emma wanted to gag Ruby at that moment.

 _Could she not see that Emma was having a moment?_

She wasn't in the right frame of mind for conversation. Not being sat so close to _him_ anyway. Knowing her luck she'd end up blurting out something incredibly embarrassing and she'd be thrown out of the convention.

"You okay?" Ruby whispered. "You're looking kind of pale."

Emma nodded her head stiffly, but kept her attention fully focused on Killian.

Their gold panel was only thirty minutes long, so Killian didn't waste any time getting stuck into the questions that were asked of him. He answered them all as thoroughly and thoughtfully as he possibly could, without giving away too much about upcoming episodes. Emma was impressed with the amount of detail he'd managed to put into each one. It showed just how much thought he'd put into the role and she found herself falling that little bit more for him.

It was close to the end of the panel when it happened. Emma had been hanging on Killian's every word, listening so intently to his answers that she almost missed it. A fan sat just behind her had yelled, "WE LOVE YOU KILLIAN," and his head had whipped round from the woman who was asking his next question, to follow the direction of the voice.

That was when his eyes locked on hers.

Emma held her breath as his eyes widened in recognition and she gasped, realising that what had happened the night before had _definitely_ not been a result of a few too many drinks and an overactive imagination.

She had actually been inside Killian Jones' hotel suite.

Killian gave her a small smile before he shook his head clear, called back, "thank you," and carried on with the rest of his panel.

The entire moment had lasted no longer than thirty seconds, and nobody else seemed to have realised what had happened. But it left Emma on the verge of yet another panic attack.

"How the hell am I going to survive photo ops with him?" she whispered, leaning over so she was closer to Ruby.

"I dunno, but I'm starting to regret not getting one myself. He's cute."

* * *

Emma almost bolted for the door the moment Killian left the stage. The hall may have been large, but it felt almost suffocating at that moment. Ruby followed after her, concern for her friend etched into every line of her face.

"What the hell is going on, Emma?" she asked, finally catching up once Emma was outside the hotel, leaning back against the wall.

"Just a little star struck is all," Emma lied. "I'm sure I'll get over it soon."

Ruby didn't look terribly convinced but she didn't push the issue either.

"Regina and Belle want to know if we wanted to meet for coffee? You up for it?"

Emma really just wanted a moment to be alone. But she had been the one to force Ruby onto the trip and she didn't want to keep abandoning her. So instead, she reluctantly agreed.

Perhaps the caffeine would help.

Regina and Belle had already secured a table when they arrived. The girls had silver passes, so were not in the first gold panel, but they wanted to know all about it. Emma let Ruby do most of the talking. She wasn't sure she could handle it. Regina and Belle swooned just as hard as she had when Ruby filled them in on how he looked for the day.

"I can't wait for the photo ops to start. I need to get my hands on that man," Regina cackled, rubbing said hands together. "Think he'll let me touch his butt?"

A flash of jealously roared to life inside of Emma and she stamped it down as best she could. It was ridiculous. He wasn't hers to feel jealous over.

"Probably not," Belle answered for her. "I'm sure they have policies in place to avoid inappropriate touching."

"Hey, it's not inappropriate if he agrees to it," Regina defended, sitting back in her seat.

"Do you have a photo op with him?" Belle asked Ruby softly.

"Nah. I was only here for Emma. I didn't bother with that stuff. Kinda wish I had now." Ruby looked a little dejected, which was the only reason Emma made the offer she did.

"You can have one of mine, if you want?"

"Really?" Ruby eyed her friend with an odd mixture of hope and curiosity. "I thought you'd wanna keep him all to yourself for a little longer?"

"It's okay. It's the least I could do, really." Not really true. Emma had paid for most of the weekend. But she felt obligated to do so, given that it wasn't really Ruby's cup of tea.

"As long as you're sure?"

"Of course," Emma agreed, before finishing off the rest of her coffee.

* * *

Emma was distracted for a few hours by the other cast member panels that were running in the hall. While she had mainly booked her ticket for Killian, she couldn't deny that she enjoyed listening to them talk. It was fascinating to hear their takes on their characters and what motivated their actions. She loved hearing about the behind the scenes hijinks that had happened and she enjoyed learning about what they wanted to happen at some point in the future, for the show.

If anything, it just made her love for the show grow. And apparently it had the same effect on Ruby.

"Remind me to borrow your DVDs when we get home," she whispered, after a particularly funny story had been told by one of the female leads. "I think I'm gonna love this show."

"I hope so," Emma whispered back, careful not to disrupt the others around her. "We can come back next year if you do."

* * *

Emma skipped lunch again that afternoon, painfully aware that the time was creeping closer for her photo op with Killian. Instead, she down a glass of vodka and cola, hoping that it would give her some much needed liquid courage.

When the call was finally put out for their ticket numbers to join the queue for his photo op, her heart kicked back up again.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," she mumbled, hugging the wall tightly as the line crept slowly forward.

"You'll be fine," Ruby assured her. "Want me to go first?"

Emma nodded her agreement. She really didn't want Ruby behind her, watching her from the sidelines. In fact, she really didn't want _anyone_ watching on from the sidelines. But at least complete strangers were better than her best friend.

The closer she crept to the front of the line, the more her heart rate increased. She couldn't believe that she was getting this chance to be in the arms of the man she'd lusted over for the last three years. Those kinds of things just didn't happen in the real world.

When they made it into the photo op room and set their bags down, Emma took a moment to look over her appearance. She was paler than usual, probably because all of the blood seemed to be slowly draining out of her body. But other than that, she had to admit, she didn't look too bad. Ruby touched up her own lipstick and fluffed her hair, before dropping her bag to the table.

What Emma wouldn't give for her confidence.

The girls kept relatively quiet as they inched closer to the front. The music in the room was pretty loud, which made speaking difficult anyway. But Ruby seemed to sense that her friend needed the time to compose herself.

When it was finally Ruby's turn at the front, Emma's heart kicked up a final gear. She wasn't sure it was even possible to race as fast as it was, but she couldn't seem to calm herself down.

Ruby's confidence faltered only for a moment when she was finally face-to-face with Killian, but he pulled her in for a hug as the photographer snapped her picture, before releasing her with a small smile. Ruby spared a quick look over her shoulder at Emma before she left to collect her bag.

Emma took a deep breath before she approached Killian, praying to anybody who was listening that she wouldn't embarrass herself.

She noticed the moment that he recognised her. A small smile lit up his face and he slid his hands into his pockets, awaiting her arrival.

"Good afternoon, Emma." He had to speak a little louder than normal for her to hear him, but thankfully the photographer couldn't hear them from her position.

"Afternoon," she replied, a little shakily.

"You have two, right?" he asked, holding up two fingers so that the photographer would know to take both shots.

"Actually, just the one. I gave my second to Ruby. You just met her."

"Well, I won't tell if you don't." The wink he gave her had Emma's knees threatening to buckle again. Killian must have realised that as he wrapped an arm around her to keep her upright, and pull her to stand in front of him. "I like your hat," he whispered.

He moved so fast that Emma couldn't have stopped him if she'd wanted to. One moment she was stood slightly facing him, his arm supporting her weight. The next, he had her hat perched on top of his head, both his arms wrapped around her waist, and his head perched on her shoulder. He was so close Emma could feel his breath, as it ghosted across her left cheek.

When the flash went off, she prayed to God that she'd been smiling for the picture.

"Is there anything you'd like?" he asked, smiling down at her, his hands still slightly gripping each one of her hips.

"I'm not sure what'd I'd like would be acceptable," she blurted out, her eyes widening in horror once more.

Killian just let out a sharp bark of laughter before he sat her hat back on her head and pulled her in for a tight hug.

"Maybe next time," he whispered, just before the second flash went off.

Emma wanted to say something. _Anything_ in reply… but the volunteer barked out a loud, "NEXT," before she could.

"Until next time, Emma," Killian winked once more, giving her hand one final squeeze before he let go. Emma just made it out of the room before she collapsed back against the wall, her legs finally giving out.

"Are you okay?" Ruby asked, rushing over to her friend. "What the hell happened in there? You took like four times longer than anyone else did."

"Nothing. Just a little technical difficulties," Emma lied. "Mind if we go and sit outside for a while? I think I need some fresh air."

"Of course not." Ruby helped Emma up from the floor and pretended not to notice the way her best friend was shaking. "You know, I was wrong about him. He's much better looking in person than he is on TV."

"Tell me about it," Emma mumbled.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thanks again for giving this a shot.**

* * *

Emma and Ruby joined Regina and Belle that afternoon to collect their photo ops. The girls wanted to compare each one, even though they'd all basically gone for the same hug because none of them could make their voices work around Killian Jones. There was already a small group of women gathered around the desk, looking through the photos to find theirs. They were whispering excitedly about something, but Emma couldn't really bring herself to care about it.

Unsurprisingly, Ruby was the first to make it to the table, shouldering her way through the crowd as she called out, "Excuse me," so Emma left her to flick through all the images for theirs.

"Regina," Ruby called, holding out the picture for her to take. Emma and Belle leaned over their friend's shoulder to look down at the image. Killian had his arms loosely wrapped around Regina's back in a hug as they both smiled for the camera.

"My cleavage looks fantastic," Regina commented, which made all three of them laugh.

"Belle, this is yours." Ruby handed Belle her picture delicately and all eyes turned to her. Belle's picture was much the same as Regina's (only without the cleavage).

"I like it," she commented. "At least I'm not pulling some strange face."

"Ugh, I bet I am," Emma groaned.

Ruby finally made her way back to the group to have a good look at Regina and Belle's photo ops before handing over Emma's two. The others were too distracted by Ruby's photo so Emma used the time to flick through hers.

The first one was the standard hug that her friends had also opted for. Emma was relieved to note that she actually looked quite good in it. She was smiling for the camera at least. It might also have been her imagination, but Killian's arms looked a little tighter around her, his smile a little wider too.

Unfortunately, by the time she'd finished looking the image over Regina and Belle had finished complimenting Ruby on hers and had turned their full attention to Emma.

"That's beautiful, Emma," Belle complimented. "It looks like one of those couple's engagement announcement shots."

Emma laughed a little uncomfortably and was about to say thank you, when Ruby cut in. "If you think that one's good you should see the second. I thought you only booked two?" she asked, suspiciously.

"I um… I booked a third when my bonus came in," Emma lied smoothly, knowing the truth would just raise more questions.

She didn't really want to share her second photo op with the group. It was one she was hoping to be able to keep to herself. But Ruby had already seen it, and she knew there would be no getting around it. So, she carefully slid the first aside to reveal the second op hiding behind it.

"Holy fuck," Regina exclaimed, leaning in a little closer. "How the hell did you find the words to ask for that?"

"I… I didn't," Emma stuttered out, her eyes locked on the picture. "He did it himself."

Emma felt, more than she saw, the girls gaping at her. She still couldn't take her eyes off her picture. She wasn't just smiling in it - she was beaming. Killian had his arms wrapped tightly around her waist, her own hands having come down to cover them. (Not that she could remember doing that). His face was pressed up against hers where his chin was perched on her shoulder. He had her hat on his head, leaning at an artful angle. But perhaps the best part of the picture was the look on his face. Instead of his usual smile for photo ops, he had a wicked grin in place. The one Emma recognised instantly from his show. It was the face Hook made every time he said something heavy with innuendo.

"I guess he's into blondes," Regina quipped, pulling out a folder to safely store her picture in.

Emma laughed a little manically before answering, "I highly doubt that."

She completely missed the look Ruby was giving her.

* * *

Emma hadn't booked any other photo ops, so the rest of the day she spent listening to cast panels and getting to know Regina and Belle a little better. The girls didn't live too far from Boston, so Ruby was already busy making plans for the four of them to have girls' nights out when they left.

That evening, the event organisers were hosting a concert for the attendees. Regina and Belle were eager to go, hoping that the cast might make an appearance at some point. Emma, however, would much rather curl up in her bed back at the hotel and read, but she didn't want to seem like a party pooper. So, she reluctantly agreed to join them.

"I'm not sure I'm dressed for a concert," she worried, looking down at herself.

"Nonsense, you look great," Belle reassured her. "Did you want to come up to our room and freshen up a little?"

"I need to make a phone call first, do you mind if I meet you up there?" Emma was becoming painfully aware of the fact that she'd not spoken to Neal since her plane landed and he'd start to worry soon.

"Of course not," Belle agreed. "We're in room twelve-sixteen. Come up when you're finished."

Ruby lingered just long enough to warn Emma, "Don't let him bring you down," before she followed her friends to the bank of elevators.

Emma still wasn't fully familiar with the hotel but she eventually managed to find an empty room with good cell service. She crept inside quietly before dialling Neal's number.

"It's about bloody time. I was starting to worry you never made it to the hotel, Ems. What the hell?"

"Hello to you too," she sighed, taking a seat on top of one of the tables.

"Why haven't you called before?" Neal snapped, not wasting any time.

"I was just busy with Ruby. We checked straight into the hotel and then headed out to look at dresses. I didn't call when we got back because I didn't want to wake you."

"I'm sure that's it," he sneered. "And not that Ruby had taken you out drinking all night."

"We had a few drinks, but it's no different to the Friday nights you have out with your friends," Emma defended.

Neal hummed but he didn't say anything in response.

"I just wanted to call and make sure you were okay," she finally said. "There's another dress waiting for me to try on so I have to go. Talk soon."

"At least send a message tonight before you go to sleep. That way I won't be awake all night worrying about you." Neal hung up the call before Emma could say anything else.

"I bet you weren't even worried," she whispered to the empty room.

"What would I be worried about?"

The voice that came from behind her startled Emma so badly she almost fell off the table.

"Sorry, I'm so sorry. I thought you heard me come in," Killian soothed, rounding the table.

"I… uh… I must have been distracted."

"Must have been one hell of a call. Boyfriend?" he asked curiously.

Emma had no idea what possessed her to do it but instead of confirming Killian's suspicions she answered, "No. My mother."

"Ahh… that would explain hiding out in here. My mother has the same effect." Killian pulled over one of the free chairs around the edge of the room, spinning it round to straddle and face Emma. "So, are you off to the concert this evening?"

Emma was having a hard time focusing on his questions. Her mind was too busy screaming at her.

 _Why was he still here?_

 _Why was he even talking to her?_

"Yeah, we are. My friends were hoping you'd put in an appearance. We all know how well you sing." Apparently she was still blurting out whatever came to mind around him.

 _Fantastic._

Killian laughed, a little embarrassed by her praise, before he brought his hand up to scratch behind his ear. It was something she'd noticed from all of his interviews on YouTube. Something he did when he was flustered.

"Yeah. I was actually planning to skip it. We've been doing fourteen-hour days all week. I've been dreaming of my bed all afternoon." He flushed a little at his last comment and Emma wrote it off as his nerves that she'd say something completely inappropriate in response to it.

Her phone vibrated in her hand, startling her once again. This time it was only a quick message from Ruby, asking her to hurry up as they wanted to grab some drinks before the concert began.

"Well, I'm sure it will still be a good night without you," she assured him. "I have to go. My friends are waiting for me. I hope you sleep well, Killian."

Killian stood when Emma slid to the end of the table, offering his hand to help her down.

"Thank you, Emma. See you tomorrow," he called, as she practically ran for the door.

* * *

"How did it go?" Ruby asked, when they finally both had drinks in hand and seats in the hall for the concert.

"He was pissed. But I kind of expected him to be. What kind of girlfriend doesn't check in all weekend?"

"A busy one," Ruby answered for her. "You don't have to call him all the time. He should trust you enough not to."

"I'd be worried too, if I were him," Emma protested.

"Oh please? The only thing he's worried about is you running off with some guy who's better for you."

Emma didn't bother responding to Ruby's last comment. Belle and Regina were making their way back from the bathroom and they didn't need to know about her slightly controlling partner.

"So… I hear Killian won't be here tonight," Regina sighed, taking a seat at one of the tables that had been set out for them.

"Yeah, he's been doing fourteen-hour days all week." Emma didn't know why she made the comment, but once it was out, she couldn't take it back.

"How do you know that?" Ruby asked, suspiciously.

"Twitter." It was a plausible explanation and far more believable than the truth actually was.

"Yeah, I think I remember one of the fansites tweeting it," Belle agreed.

Emma sighed in relief before taking a sip from her drink.

* * *

The concert was actually quite fun. Emma didn't know the band but their music was rather enjoyable. She did her best to push all thoughts of Neal out of her mind and focus instead on enjoying herself.

It was about half way through the evening when the crowd quietened down as the band finished their last song.

"So, we have a special guest here with us tonight for you," the lead singer announced.

Emma's heart leapt into her throat as the whispers in the room picked up. They were all saying the same thing.

 _Killian Jones was here._

"He's a little tired, so he won't be staying long, but please welcome, onto the stage, Killian Jones."

The noise level in the room shot through the roof as the women in it began screaming their appreciation.

Killian had changed into a simple t-shirt for the evening, probably hoping to be a little more comfortable. But he still looked far better than Neal ever did, in the same kind of clothing.

He thanked the crowd for their warm welcome, and then picked up his guitar. While he was fiddling with the instrument, he allowed his eyes to wander the crowd. It felt like he was looking for something, _or someone,_ but Emma didn't want to allow herself to hope. She'd already gotten far more memories from her time with the guy than she ever dreamed she'd make.

It was only when his gaze finally landed on her, a small smile tugging at his lips, that she allowed the hope to blossom in her chest.

Hope that maybe, just maybe, he _had_ been looking for her.

The moment he strummed his first cord, Emma could sense the entire room swoon as one. He was a fantastic musician and she felt incredibly blessed to be given the chance to see him play live.

Ruby and Regina pulled out their phones to record the set, but Emma couldn't seem to move. She was lost in everything that was Killian. The way he sang, so full of emotion, resonated deeply inside of her. She hadn't even realised that was crying until Belle passed her a tissue.

When he was finished, Emma didn't know if she wanted to drop to her knees and beg for more, or leave for some fresh air to calm herself down. She'd never felt so twisted up inside before. And it was not a feeling she was enjoying.

Killian Jones was evoking emotions inside of Emma that she though had been long buried.

"I think we should be getting back to our hotel," Ruby told Regina and Belle. "It's a bit of a walk and we have an early start again tomorrow. Meet you for coffee before the first panel?"

"Of course," Belle agreed. "We should probably get back to our rooms too before the elevators are all packed out."

* * *

 **As a note - I've never been to a convention in the US before but I have spent far more money than a sane person should on UK based events. While this one is roughly based on a Creation event, it's done so with what friends have told me about how they run their Supernatural conventions, and what I know from my own experience.**

 **If you can get to a convention - I highly recommend them!**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Thanks again for all of your encouragement for this story.**

* * *

Emma was half way through her breakfast when Ruby asked, "So, what's going on with you and Killian Jones?"

She coughed wildly, choking on the bite of toast she'd just taken, before Ruby took pity on her and slapped her on the back.

"Nothing. Nothing's going on. Why do you ask?" Even to her own ears, Emma could tell how off she sounded. She just hoped she could get away with blaming it on almost choking to death.

"He's not taken his eyes off you since we came down for breakfast."

Emma was grateful that she hadn't put anything else in her mouth before Ruby spoke. Instead, she tried to turn her head as casually as she could, to see if she could spot him in the room.

"He's in the left corner, behind you," Ruby deadpanned. "Looked like he was about to knock the damned table over to get to you when you started choking. So, I ask again, what's going on with you two?"

" _Nothing_ ," Emma insisted, truly believing the answer herself. "We ran into each other a few times outside of the convention. That's all. Nothing's going on."

Ruby picked up her teaspoon to stir sugar into her coffee. Emma watched as she took a small sip, and then sat her mug back down before she spoke. "A man doesn't get _that_ look on his face when nothing's happening between him and a woman, Emma. You can tell me what's happened. I'm not gonna go running back to Neal to tell on you."

"Ruby… honestly… nothing is happening. I promise. If there were anything going on, you'd be the first to know." She reached across the table to take her best friend's hands into her own.

"So… why didn't you tell me about running into him?"

Emma wanted to kick herself. Ruby seemed genuinely hurt that she'd not told her friend about what had happened.

"Well, the first time it happened, I was a little tipsy. I thought maybe I'd hallucinated the entire thing. The second time… I don't know. I guess… I guess maybe I thought you wouldn't believe me."

Ruby squeezed Emma's hands in her own, to get her attention.

"I would _always_ believe you, Ems. But... let's not tell Regina and Belle. It's kind of exciting having this secret."

Emma laughed, before letting go of Ruby to finish eating. They didn't have long until they needed to head back to the convention hotel for the final day.

Killian was gone by the time they'd finished eating.

* * *

Their final day at the convention was much more relaxed than the previous one had been. Emma didn't have any other photo ops booked, so she and Ruby spent the morning listening to cast panels. Killian would be doing one final panel that afternoon, before his autograph session, and she was counting down the hours until that moment.

They met up with Regina and Belle again at lunchtime, this time making sure to trade numbers before the craziness of the afternoon kicked in, in case they were separated. They even agreed to book tickets for next year's event as a group the moment they went on sale, so that they'd get to stay together for the entire weekend.

Emma excused herself just before the lunch break was over to call home. She wandered back down the hotel corridors the same way she had the day before, slipping into the very same room.

This time, her breath caught in her throat as she saw the figure sat hunched over the table in the corner. He looked up at the soft sound of the door closing behind her, a small smile working across his face.

"Hey." She still didn't really know what to say around him.

"Hi. I was hoping you'd find your way back here." He indicated the room around them with his head, before sliding off the table and moving to stand before her. "I just wanted to check that you were okay. After this morning."

"So you were in the restaurant for breakfast?" Emma asked.

"Yeah. I was gonna say hi, but I didn't want to interrupt you and your friend." He stuffed his hands into his back pockets and rocked back on his heels. "So… last day. Are you excited? Sad?"

"A little of both," Emma admitted. "I'm looking forward to your panel. But I'm also not yet ready to go home."

"Where's home?" Emma watched in stunned silence as Killian made his way back to the table he'd been sat on before, beckoning for her to join him.

"Not far. A small town called Storybrooke in Maine." Emma made her way over to where Killian was sat slowly, still half expecting him to disappear suddenly.

"I haven't heard of it before," he admitted. "Do you have family there?"

"Most people haven't. When I tell them I'm the sheriff there, I think they think I'm making it up."

"You're the sheriff?" Killian interrupted. "As in, law enforcement. Carries a gun and badge type sheriff?"

"Know of any other kinds of sheriff?" she sassed and Killian laughed a little at the tone.

"No. I don't. I was just trying to picture you in one of those ugly sheriff's uniforms you see on TV. It's not really fitting in my head."

"I don't wear one," Emma admitted, blushing a little. "Never have. But I do have a badge and a gun."

"Wow." Killian took a moment to process that mental image before looking back at Emma. "Well, next time you come, you'll have to bring some cuffs with you. Make things a little more interesting. "

Emma almost swallowed her own tongue. "You want me to cuff you?"

"Who doesn't enjoy a little light bondage?" he teased.

Emma was saved the embarrassment of trying to find a response when his phone began beeping in his back pocket.

"I'm sorry, I have to go," Killian reluctantly admitted. "See you in the panel room."

He was out of the door before Emma could process what had happened.

* * *

"You were gone a while," Ruby noted, as Emma took her seat in the hall. "Neal giving you trouble again?"

"Shit," Emma exclaimed. "I completely forgot to call him."

"How did you forget? That was the… Oh," Ruby trailed off, already knowing the answer to her next question. "Did you run into _him_ again?"

"Yeah," Emma admitted, quietly. "But can we not talk about it right now?" She glanced around herself meaningfully and Ruby got the message, instead she started digging into her bag to offer her friend a mint.

When the MC appeared on stage at five, Emma felt a shift in the room once again. This would be the final panel of the weekend and she knew everybody was looking forward to it just as much as she was.

"We really hope you guys have had a great weekend," he began. "We've loved having you all here, and we will definitely be doing this again next year. Tickets go on sale Monday morning at nine _am_ so make sure you don't miss out on those."

Emma didn't need the sales pitch. She already knew she'd be back next year. And the year after that.

"Now, we've decided to save the best for last, for you all. So, please give a very warm welcome to our own, Killian Jones."

If Emma thought the gold panel's reaction had been loud, it was nothing compared to this. The entire room erupted into noise. Cheers and whistles filled the space as Killian made his way on stage, taking his seat dead centre. He cast a quick look around the hall, giving the crowd time to settle themselves back down. As he did, his eyes caught Emma's in the front row, lingering a little longer than necessary, before he moved on.

Ruby elbowed her when she noticed it too.

Emma ignored her friend, settling back into her seat to listen to Killian's panel unfold.

* * *

As soon as he had finished, Ruby pulled Emma out of the hall and into a quiet section of corridor, away from prying ears.

"He likes you."

"Excuse me?" Emma asked, a little lost in the direction their conversation was taking.

"He. Likes. You," Ruby repeated. "I saw the way he looked for you when he got in that room. This is _huge_ , Emma."

"I'm sure you're wrong," Emma protested. "He probably just likes the idea of having a familiar face in the audience. He probably does this at every con he goes to."

"I highly doubt that," Ruby countered. "He _likes_ you, Emma. You should go for it."

"Go for what?"

"Make a move on him." Ruby said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"I'm engaged," Emma reminded her. "And even if I weren't, I doubt he'd be interested in me when he could, quite literally, have anyone in the world."

"Are you not in this world? Besides, why worry about Neal? I've always said you can do better than him. And isn't Killian on your list?"

"That list is just for fun, Ruby. Neal isn't going to like me throwing myself at _any_ guy. I don't even know why we're having this conversation."

"Fine. Have it your way," she conceded. "I just don't want you to regret not seizing this opportunity. We're only here for another few hours, remember?"

She walked away before Emma could say anything else.

* * *

Emma took a moment to freshen up before the autograph sessions. She was also trying really hard not to think about what Ruby had said to her. There was a small part of her mind that was screaming there might be some truth to her words. After all, Killian had been waiting for her, in that room, that afternoon. But, a much larger, and far more sensible, part of her brain just couldn't bring herself to believe it. She was Emma Swan. A sheriff for a small town nobody had ever heard of. She was nothing special.

She found Ruby with Belle and Regina, waiting just outside of the bathrooms for her. All four women had autographs with Killian, and had decided to head into them together.

Emma chose to hang back as the last in their group. She hated the idea of her friends watching what little interaction she'd have left with Killian, and it gave her the time to prepare herself for seeing him again. No matter how many times they'd bumped into each other so far, Emma still couldn't get past that initial shock.

The queue for Killian's autograph crawled along much more slowly than his photo op line had. Emma assumed it was because he was taking the time to speak with each attendee before they left. But she wasn't complaining. It gave her some much-needed time to compose herself.

Belle was the first in their group to approach his table, sliding her photo op down in front of him with a small, "hi." Emma couldn't hear what Killian was saying to her, but she saw Belle flush bright red and nod her head as he bent his to sign the image. She left clutching it to her chest.

Regina was a little more outgoing. Emma overheard as she thanked Killian for his time and wished him a safe flight home, before collecting her picture and leaving the room.

Ruby was the next to go, throwing a quick look over her shoulder at Emma as she approached his desk. Killian must have seen where she was looking, as he turned his head to follow her gaze. When his eyes landed on her, he gave Emma a small smile, before turning his full attention to Ruby. Emma couldn't hear a thing that her best friend said to him as he signed her photo op, but she watched as Ruby made her way out of the room, a sly smile worming it's way over her face as she turned to watch her friend.

Emma took a deep and steadying breath before she made her way to Killian's table, sliding the photo op of the two of them hugging onto the table before him.

"Hey," he greeted, looking down at the picture. "Didn't we go for two?" he asked, picking it up to see if the other was behind it.

"Um, yeah," Emma mumbled, conscious of Killian's handler sat beside him, listening in.

"Can I see the second?" he asked, looking up at her with what could only be described as the world's best puppy-dog eyes.

"Sure." Emma reached for her bag, slowly pulling out her hard case, and the only remaining picture inside of it, before she slid it over the table for Killian to look at. Thankfully, it was at that moment that one of the other members of staff called his handler away to talk.

"This one is much better," Killian told her, pulling out his cell phone to snap a quick picture of their photo op. Emma's eyes couldn't widen any further if they tried. "Mind if I sign this one?" he asked.

"No. Not at all. Go for it." Her voice had gone back to high-pitched and squeaky.

Killian bent his head to begin scribbling away on the picture but still asked, "So, back to work when you get home?"

"Yeah. David, my deputy, is covering for me. But his wife just had a baby so I know he's eager to get back home to them."

"That's sweet," Killian told her, looking up just as his handler sat back down. "I hope you had a great weekend."

"I did, thank you," Emma assured him, sliding both of her pictures off the desk.

"Travel safely, Emma."

Emma didn't reply, noticing that Killian was already busy with the person that had been behind her in line. So instead she concentrated on making her way out of the room without walking into someone or something, as she scanned her pictures. She hadn't realised he'd signed them both.

"What did you get?" Ruby asked, pulling her friend to the side as soon as she left the room. Regina and Belle were waiting for her too.

"Um…" The first picture Emma pulled out was the one she'd originally slid down in front of Killian. She handed that over for her friends to look at.

"You got the same as us," Regina noted, reading his inscription aloud. "'Emma, Thanks for a fantastic weekend'. How did you get yours personalised?"

"He asked for my name," Emma muttered, distractedly. She was too busy reading what Killian had written on her second picture.

 **Emma,**

 **Next time, make sure to bring those cuffs so we can have some real fun.**

 **I hope to see you again soon.**

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Just a quick update to let you all know surgery went well and I'm home recovering.**

* * *

Returning home felt strange. Emma had been in a fandom bubble all weekend and that definitely popped the moment she stepped through the door.

"How did it go?" Neal called out, jumping up from his spot on the sofa and making his way over to her.

"Not bad." Emma stood her luggage in the doorway and met him halfway, allowing him to pull her into his arms.

"Did you get a dress?" he asked, dropping a kiss to the top of her head.

"Um.. no," she hedged. "I found a few styles that I liked, but nothing that wowed me."

Neal grunted his acknowledgement but otherwise said nothing else. His affection had thrown her off and Emma felt uncomfortable in his arms, knowing that she had lied to him.

"I'm gonna go and check my emails," she told him, pointing in the direction of her office. "Just to see if anything important came up while I was away."

"Okay, Babe," Neal muttered, a little despondently. Emma leaned up to give him a sweet kiss, hoping to chase away his sadness. It wasn't his fault that she'd lied to him.

She always kept her office locked, due to the nature of some of the documents she kept inside of it. So, after unlocking the door, she hurried inside to boot up her computer. While it was loading, Emma took out her photo ops with Killian Jones and slid them into a plain envelope, which she then locked inside of her safe. She knew Neal would never find them there.

A quick scan of her email account showed that nothing important had come up while she was away, so Emma decided to use the time to send off a quick request for the digital copies of her photo ops.

She pulled up Twitter next, scanning through all the tweets she had received from her fandom friends. Neal often joked about how naïve Emma was for making people she'd never met in person such a big part of her life. But she knew he was wrong now. She'd met some of these people over the weekend and they were just as sweet in person as they were online.

Finally, she pulled up Killian's Twitter page before she logged out, scanning through his tweets. A few were retweets of promotional shots and videos for the next episode. There were a couple of backstage pictures of him with some of the other guests from the convention. But there was one message that grabbed her attention.

 **Had a fantastic time in Boston! Even got to meet a local Sherriff. Sadly, no handcuffs were involved… this time. :-P**

She had a message in reply to Killian's already tapped out when common sense caught up to her. Neal knew all about her twitter presence. She'd shown him messages far too often for him not to. If she replied, there was a chance he'd see the message and know that she had lied to him. So, instead, she logged out of the social media site.

Without really meaning to, Emma found herself back on the convention organiser's page. They ran events for a few different shows with the Fairytales one being their most recent addition. Because of that, there were only four other dates online for events that year.

The next one was a little under two months away, in New Jersey.

Emma had no idea what possessed her to do it, but before she knew it, a gold pass for the New Jersey event had been purchased with her credit card, along with three photo ops with Killian Jones.

"Fuck," she whispered, relaxing back into her seat. Now she just needed an excuse to give to Neal.

* * *

"So, I did something stupid," Emma whispered, leaning over the counter so Ruby would be able to hear her.

"You? Really? I doubt that, Ems." Ruby threw her a disbelieving look before taking Leroy his coffee.

When she returned Emma continued, "I booked a gold pass for New Jersey con."

"What?" Ruby yelled, almost dropping the mug, in her hand, onto the floor.

Emma sent her a warning look as she glanced around the dinner. Thankfully, it was almost empty at that time of the morning. "I don't know why I did it," she confessed, draining the last of her own coffee.

"I do," Ruby snorted. "I'm pretty sure it has _everything_ to do with Killian Jones and how hot he is for you."

"He's not hot for me. He was just being friendly." Emma sat in silence for a little while, allowing Ruby to serve Sydney, who had just entered, before she finally worked up the courage to ask what she had been thinking about all night.

"Hey, Ruby? Do you think you could do me a favour? I told Neal we didn't find _the_ dress this weekend, so we were going to be going a little further away that weekend to look again. Do you think you'd mind keeping up the ruse for me?" Emma couldn't look at her friend as she asked. She hated that she'd put her in that position to begin with.

"Of course not," Ruby agreed. "I wanted a weekend to myself at the cabin anyway, so I'll just escape up there. Hopefully it will help inspire me to write a little more."

"Thanks." Emma finally looked up to send a grateful smile her friend's way. "I owe you one."

"I'll think of a way for you to repay me," Ruby assured her, a devious smirk lighting up her face.

* * *

The first weekend after the convention, Neal decided to take a trip of his own, with some of his friends from high school. While Emma was a little annoyed that he didn't want to spend the time with her, she didn't say anything. After all, how could she? She'd done the same thing the weekend before.

So, she resigned herself to a quiet weekend alone, curled up on the sofa.

When the buzzer rang for her apartment, she hauled herself off the sofa, searching through her bag for some cash to pay for the food she'd ordered. She wasn't expecting to see Ruby waiting for her on the other side of the door, with Mary-Margret stood just behind.

"I have your food," Ruby announced, brushing past Emma and into the apartment. "Should just do the three of us, if we wash it down with plenty of wine."

"Hey Emma," Mary-Margret greeted softly. "This was Ruby's idea."

"I guessed," she chuckled, ushering her friend in and closing the door behind her.

Ruby was already in the kitchen, dishing out an equal serving of food on to three plates. "Grab some glasses, we brought wine," she told Emma, pausing to lick the spoon she'd used, before tossing it into the sink. Emma did as she was asked, pouring three glasses and taking them through to her lounge, before grabbing the extra bottles. She had a feeling they were not going to survive the night with their corks intact.

"I also brought entertainment," Ruby announced, digging through her bag to pull out the first season of Fairytales on DVD.

Emma groaned slightly, but didn't protest. She'd planned to re-watch some of her favourite episodes that night anyway.

"Oh, isn't that the show with the hot guy that plays Captain Hook?" Mary-Margret asked, surprising them all. "What? I watch TV," she defended, at the twin looks of shock on Emma and Ruby's faces.

"Yes. Yes it is," Ruby answered, sliding the disc into the player. "What kind of girly night would it be without a little mutual perving?"

It took Ruby four glasses of wine and three episodes to realise that someone was missing from the first season. "Emma, why didn't you tell me?" she whined.

"Because you have no patience, you'd skip straight to season two and completely miss the key plot points."

"I'm patient. I thought last weekend proved that," Ruby replied.

"Ugh. I do not envy you guys that. Finding a wedding dress is _hard_ work. I'm sure you'll find the one soon, Emma."

Emma and Ruby shared a look behind Mary-Margret's back. Neither of them enjoyed lying to their friend, so they'd resolved to speak of what had happened as little as possible around others. But Ruby's tongue always became a little looser when she'd had a few drinks.

"How is baby Leo?" Emma asked, hoping to take the focus of the conversation off her non-existent wedding dress hunt. The change of subject worked wonders, as Mary-Margret launched into an hour-long talk about her son, and all of the wonderful things he'd been learning to do in his short life.

* * *

It was close to two _am_ when Emma finally locked her front door behind her friends, after watching them climb safely into the back of David's car. She had to admit, as much as she'd been upset with Neal's plans for the weekend, she'd enjoyed her time with Mary-Margret and Ruby. She didn't often get to see the two of them together, now that Mary-Margret was busy with the baby, and with Neal and Ruby's mutual dislike of each other often kept her away from the apartment.

Emma cleaned up the lounge a little, putting the dirty dishes and glasses into the dishwasher, before grabbing her phone and heading for bed.

It was only when she was showered and in her pyjamas, tucked up under the duvet, that she checked the screen, to see if Neal had been in touch.

He hadn't, and Emma really wasn't surprised. He never did bother calling while he was away for weekends, preferring to get drunk instead.

There was, however, a message through her Facebook messenger app from a name she didn't recognise. She tapped open the app, fully expecting to see yet another lewd proposal from some stranger in a far off land. (She'd had far too many messages like that already). However, the short question stopped her short.

 **Is this Sherriff Emma Swan of Storybrooke, Maine?**

Emma sat for a while, reading that one line over and over, unsure of how to reply. It could, of course, just be another creep, going about his proposal in a different way. It could also be someone that Emma had met before, but lost touch with. The name **John K Jones** wasn't familiar to her at all, though, no matter how hard she thought about it.

In the end, Emma realised that she wouldn't be getting any sleep that night if she didn't _at least_ reply to find out what this person wanted.

 _It is._

 _Who is this?_

Her reply was short and simple. She didn't want to be accused of leading him on if it was one of the usual creeps.

When her reply went unread for ten minutes, Emma decided to call it a night. She locked her phone and slid the device onto her bedside table, switching out the light.

Within ten minutes she was fast asleep, dreaming of Captain Hook sailing into Storybrooke Harbour and whisking her off into the sunset.

* * *

When she woke again at five _am,_ her head already starting to pound from the alcohol she'd consumed the night before, Emma decided it was time for a bottle of water and some aspirin.

When she stumbled back to her bed, she flicked on the screen of her phone. It had become a habit to check it whenever she could, just in case she'd slept through an emergency call at the station.

There were no missed calls, but there was a reply from her new mystery man on Facebook. Against her better judgement, Emma opened up the app to see what he'd typed, already preparing herself to block him.

Instead, her heart flew into her chest at what she saw.

 **Killian Jones.**

It took her a moment for logic to catch up, before she tapped out a reply, taking out her anger on the touchscreen.

 _Haha._

 _Very funny, Loser._

 _One last chance before I block you._

 _Who are you and what do you want?_

This time, the three little dots, signalling a reply was being typed out, flashed up almost immediately and then disappeared just as quickly.

Emma sat waiting for a moment longer before she decided to get some more rest. Her creep could wait until the morning.

It was just as she'd turned off the light that her phone flashed, brightening up the dark room.

Emma grabbed it, unlocking the device and quickly opening up the app.

What she saw in reply made her drop the phone in surprise.

* * *

 **Thank you for all your messages and reviews.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Thank you for your wonderful response to the last chapter.**

* * *

 _Where did you get that?_

Emma's hands were trembling so badly as she typed out the message that it took her four attempts to get every word right. She couldn't tell if it was her anger at the idea of some stranger having a copy of her photo op or if it was nerves that this really could be Killian Jones, reaching out to her. After all, he was the only other person that she knew had a copy of that picture.

She watched the screen of her phone waiting for those three little dots to appear again. But instead, it just faded to black in her hands. It was another twenty-three seconds before it flashed once more.

 **I should have known you'd never believe me.**

 **This was stupid.**

 **Sorry.**

 **Forget about it.**

Emma had every intention of just blocking the guy and doing that. But something inside of her wouldn't let her hit that button. So instead, she tapped out another reply.

 _Please, that picture is very personal to me._

 _I just want to know where you got it._

The three little dots appeared quite quickly that time and Emma leaned over to flick on the bedside light, knowing she wouldn't be getting any more sleep that morning.

 **I took it on my phone during the autograph signings.**

 **I thought you knew.**

So he was still playing _that_ game. Emma fixed on her most determined face, even though she knew he couldn't see it, before sending a reply.

 _If it's REALLY you, then you won't mind proving it to me?_

 _Take a picture of yourself with today's date, and the time you first messaged me, written on a piece of paper._

Emma waited ten minutes before she locked her phone and slid out of bed, heading for the bathroom. She felt like she'd won a small moral victory. Of course he couldn't provide what she'd asked for. There was no way he was the _real_ Killian Jones. She'd block his creepy ass as soon as she got back into bed.

When she slid back in and picked up her phone, her heart began hammering once more at the notification that appeared there.

He'd sent an image to their chat.

With shaking hands, Emma unlocked her phone and pulled up the app once more.

"Oh, fuck me," she cursed, taking in the image that now filled her screen.

It was pornography.

There was absolutely no other word to describe it.

He was lying in his bed. She could see the rumpled sheets and pillows in the background of the image. His hair was a complete mess, either from sleep or because he'd been worrying it. A light grey t-shirt was stretched tightly across what she could see of his torso, highlighting every bump and ridge of muscle concealed underneath it. (Muscle she'd already felt in person, she reminded herself). And on top of that, he'd laid a single sheet of white paper. The date and time stamp from his first message clearly printed on it, with his perfect signature underneath.

"Fuck me," she repeated.

Emma wasn't sure how long she had been staring at the image but she jumped a little when her phone vibrated in her hand.

 **Did I pass your test?**

She took a few deep breaths to try and clear her mind, before tapping out a reply.

 _Yeah._

 _You passed._

She wasn't really sure what else to say. All logical thought and reason had flown out of her head at the sight of that image on her screen.

 **I've spooked you now, haven't I?**

 **I knew this was stupid.**

 **Sorry.**

 _It's not stupid._

Emma hurried to reply.

 _I'm just a little stunned._

 _I mean, why are you messaging me?_

Emma watched as those three little dots appeared again, before disappearing. There was a few seconds of nothing, before they flashed once more.

 **I don't know.**

That wasn't quite the response she had expected, and she was at a loss for how to reply.

 **You didn't post any of your pictures from the weekend to your page.**

Now she was more confused than ever before. Why had Killian Jones taken such an interest in her Facebook page?

 _Some of my friends don't know where I was._

 **Ahh.**

 **So you're a closet fangirl?**

Emma finally admitted defeat and swung herself out of bed. If she was going to stay awake for the rest of the morning, she might as well make herself some coffee to help.

 _Not exactly._

 _I just don't feel comfortable posting everything about myself on social media._

 _You never know who will accidentally stumble across your page ;-)_

 **Yeah.**

 **That wasn't really an accident.**

She had expected as much. Emma had set most of her social media accounts to private to contain her personal information. Far too many people, from her past, that she'd tried too hard to forget had tried connecting with her again that way.

 _I kind of guessed._

 _So, what's with the name?_

She made her coffee to her liking, and began whipping up a small pancake batter while she waited for Killian's reply. Drinking too much wine always left her hungry in the mornings.

 **It's my middle name.**

 **Killian Jack Jones.**

 **I use the middle and then initial to try and avoid detection.**

 _Huh._

 _Maybe I should do the same? :-P_

 **Sorry.**

 **I didn't mean to violate your privacy.**

 **I guess you just got stuck in my head, after the weekend.**

 _I know that feeling well._

* * *

Emma was a walking zombie that morning. She had never been more grateful for living in such a small town as she was then. Besides some paperwork that she'd been putting off all month, there was nothing else for her to do at work. So, she gathered up her files, and decided to work from home. With a few naps thrown in for good measure.

She heard nothing else from Killian all day. If it hadn't been for the chat log, she'd have sworn that she had dreamed the entire thing. She'd considered sending him a friend request, but then felt paranoid about the few pictures of Neal that she had on her own page. Neal didn't have his own, so he wouldn't notice if she removed them – but their friends definitely would.

Neal finally returned that evening at around seven _pm._

"Hey Babe, how was your weekend?" he asked, dropping a kiss onto her forehead as he dropped his bag behind the couch.

"A little boring. Had a girl's night on Saturday though, with Ruby and Mary-Margret. How was yours?"

"Fantastic. We played some golf, hit some clubs, and just let off some steam. I _really_ needed it." Emma watched as he dropped down onto his favourite armchair, before propping his feet up on the coffee table. "Grab me a beer, would ya?"

Emma sighed a little as she pulled herself up to grab him a drink. He was closer to the kitchen than she was, but it never really mattered.

"Are you going to put your bag away?" she asked on her way back, almost tripping over the handle of it.

"Gimme a second will ya? I just got through the door. I'll do it later."

* * *

Later turned out to be three days later - when Emma finally got fed up of stepping over, or around it, and unpacked the bag herself.

* * *

"Do we _have_ to watch this shit?" Neal moaned, as Emma settled herself back into the sofa. Fairytales was returning after a short break, and she couldn't wait to see what would happen next on her favourite show.

"You get to watch your sports, why can't I watch my shows?"

"Because sport is far more interesting than this shit is. Come on, Emma. You're nearly thirty now. Aren't you a little too old for fairy tales?"

Emma picked up the remote and hit record on the DVR, before throwing it in Neal's direction. "Fine. Watch what you want. I'm going to the station."

"It's Sunday night. What can you possibly have to do on a Sunday evening?" he called out, watching as she aggressively shoved each arm into her favourite leather jacket.

"Paperwork. A ton of it. And we're expecting a delivery tomorrow of new computers to update the system. I'll be gone for a while. Don't bother waiting up for me."

As she shut the door to the apartment, she allowed herself a moment to blink back the angry tears that had been gathering in her eyes, before brushing them away. If she hurried, she'd just make it to the station in time to catch the episode that evening.

* * *

As she made herself comfortable on the most uncomfortable sofa in the world, with an old sheriff's jacket thrown over her legs to chase away the chill, and some lukewarm coffee, Emma felt happier than she had all week. She knew most people thought her obsession with the show was childish, but Emma couldn't help it. The idea of fairy tales being real was something that had caught her heart from the start.

Growing up in foster care had never been easy, but the one constant in her young life had been Emma's beloved collection of fairy tales. She'd received a copy of them from her first foster family for Christmas one year and since then, she'd taken them from home to home, using them as her escape when things got a little too much for her. She still had the book, tucked away in her safe. The pages were dirty, torn and tear-stained, but it was still one of Emma's most prized possessions. The show had become something of an extension of that book for her.

Emma was pulled out of her memories when a twitter notification came through from Killian Jones, promoting the episode.

She would never know what possessed her to do it, but she opened up her messenger app and took a quick picture of herself, covered in the old brown sheriff's jacket, hair a mess, and sent it to him.

 _This is the closest thing I have to uniform._

 _Looking forward to the episode tonight._

Emma set her phone down so she could focus on the first part of the show. She hated interruptions during her first watch, so it was probably a good thing that she'd left the house. She'd tried once before to watch the show with Neal and he laughed and talked over the entire thing, insulting the plotlines; the acting; the costumes; the special effects; and the writing. Emma had hated every moment of it.

At the first commercial break, she stood up to stretch her legs a little, and make some more coffee. While she was waiting for it to brew, she checked her phone.

 **That's exactly what I was picturing!**

 **Why is it so big?**

 **You look like you could camp under it.**

She chuckled a little at his messages before firing back her own.

 _It belonged to the guy who was sheriff before me._

 _I only ever use it for keeping warm in here._

Emma had never been so happy to see those three dots as she was when they flashed up then.

 _Had he been waiting for her reply?_

 **I have to admit, the red leather suits you far better than old, dusty, brown.**

 **Why are you working so late on a Sunday?**

 _Because crime never sleeps?_

She chuckled at her own bad joke before fixing her coffee to her liking and then making her way back to the sofa.

 **Really?**

 **I Googled Storybrooke.**

 **You don't exactly have terrifying crime statistics.**

 _Should I be concerned about just how much you seem to know about me?_

 **I'm pretty sure you probably know more about me than I do about you.**

He had her there. She was definitely one of _those_ fangirls. But right then, Emma couldn't bring herself to care.

 _Touché._

 _What else would you like to know?_

She set her phone back down as the commercials ended, turning her full attention back to the show instead. She felt a little bad for leaving Killian hanging the way she had, but she was sure he'd work out what she was doing.

Emma let all of her stresses and tensions melt away as she watched the next part of the show. She always forgot just how much she loved it when it was off air, but now, with a fresh episode back on her television, Emma was fully absorbed in the world that had been carefully created over the past five seasons.

At the next commercial break, she picked up her phone, eager to see if Killian had replied.

 **I don't want to overstep.**

 **How about, how did you become a sheriff?**

 **You seem awfully young for that role.**

 **Or if you're not comfortable talking about that, it's fine.**

 **I completely understand.**

 **Sorry.**

Emma hurried to tap out a reply as she realised that Killian really didn't know that she'd been too distracted by the show to reply.

 _Sorry. I never look at my phone while I watch the show._

 _I kind of fell into it._

 _When I came to town, I was only a teenager. The sheriff offered me a job doing the admin, as a way to help me out._

 _I loved it._

 _And he taught me everything I know._

 **Phew.**

 **Thought I'd offended you for a moment there.**

 **I'm glad you enjoy your job.**

 **So, what do you think of tonight's episode?**

 _It's good._

 _I forgot how much I missed the show._

 _But it is seriously lacking in some Hook time :-P_

 **You're gonna make me blush.**

 **But I'm glad you're enjoying it.**

 **Makes the long days worthwhile when you know people out there are enjoying what you do.**

 _Fair warning, I'm putting my phone down now to finish the show._

 _Don't panic._

 **Enjoy it, Emma.**

* * *

When Emma made it back to the apartment, Neal was fast asleep on the sofa, snoring away. Some of her anger returned at the sight of all the empty bottles and cans around him, that she knew she'd have to clean up the next morning, and the television still on the sports channels. So, instead of waking him as she usually would, she decided to head for a shower and then bed.

She hadn't been lying when she said she had a delivery of new computers arriving the next morning, so she'd be up early to receive those. When she switched the light off that night to settle down to sleep, she didn't feel guilty at all for leaving Neal out in the lounge.

She definitely slept better without his snoring.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Apologies in advance for any mistakes here. I couldn't stop tinkering.**

* * *

 _I'm coming to New Jersey._

Emma stared hard at the short sentence she'd typed into her phone.

The convention in New Jersey was less than a week away, and yet, she still couldn't bring herself to send the damned message. Killian hadn't sent any more since that night and Emma found that she actually missed them. It was crazy how fast she'd come to miss something that until, a few weeks ago, she'd never even had before.

The first time she'd typed out the message, she'd been finishing a late night at the station and had come home to find a note from Neal on the kitchen table that simply read, 'Don't wait up.' It was past midnight, and Emma knew that her friends would already be in bed. She had been lonely, and she'd wanted someone to talk to.

But she couldn't bring herself to hit the send button.

The last thing she wanted to do was come across as desperate. Especially with the second convention booked.

The second time she'd typed out the message had been just after the next episode of Fairytales had aired. Killian hadn't tweeted about it, so Emma found herself discussing it with her fandom friends, on Twitter.

She'd just finished psyching herself up to hit send when one of her friends, had sent her a link to a popular Tumblr page that showed Killian was busy on set, filming.

Emma had deleted the message, telling herself that she didn't want to interrupt him while he was working.

This time, she couldn't really explain why she had been sat staring at the message for so long. There was nothing stopping her from hitting send, except for herself.

"Do you have Killian Jones's nudes there?"

Emma jumped a little in shock, not expecting the interruption.

"Ruby, what the hell?" she asked, spinning round in her seat to see her best friend stood in the doorway to her office.

"Sorry. I was just bringing you lunch," Ruby placated, setting a bag of takeout from Granny's down on Emma's desk. "But seriously, what the hell are you staring at?" She tried peeking over the edge of Emma's desk to get a look at her phone, but Emma pulled it away, hurrying to lock it.

And that's when she saw it.

"No. No, no, no, no, no!"

"What? What the hell is going on?" Ruby demanded.

"How do I unsend a message?" Emma's fingers were flying over her screen, without really achieving anything.

"You can't. Once they're sent, they're sent. Did you finally tell Neal to get lost?" Ruby took a seat on the edge of the desk, looking like she didn't have a care in the world.

Unlike Emma, whose world was currently crashing down around her.

"Ruby! You're really not helping," she snapped.

"Okay. What's going on, Emma?"

Emma found herself shrinking under her best friend's gaze. She had been hoping to keep this side of her friendship with Killian a secret. But she'd be lying if she said a part of herself wasn't desperate to tell _someone_ about it.

"I just accidentally messaged Killian Jones," she sighed, flopping back in her seat and hanging her head.

"Okay… how?" was Ruby's first question.

"Well, I'd typed out a message to send to him, but I wasn't really gonna send it. Then, when you surprised me, I must have accidentally hit send. And now I can't unsend it," she rambled.

"I'm still completely lost here, Emma. _How_ are you messaging him? Do you have his number? _Did he give you his number?"_ Ruby's voice shot up in tone and Emma cringed a little.

"No. Nothing like that. He messaged me."

"He messaged _you?_ Again. _How?_ Stop leaving out half the story," Ruby ordered.

"He found me on Facebook," Emma mumbled. "He messaged me not long after the con, and I didn't really believe it was him."

"So, how did he prove it was?"

Emma sighed and fiddled with her phone to bring up the picture Killian had sent her. She'd saved it to the handset, buried amongst pictures of random items in case Neal decided to snoop through it.

"Holy shit," Ruby gasped, her eyes widening as she took in the image. "Yeah. That's pretty convincing. I'm just gonna forward this to myself."

Emma practically vaulted her desk to get to Ruby, but both women froze when the phone in her hand beeped, signalling an incoming message.

"Who's John K Jones?" she asked. When Emma didn't answer, realisation struck her instantly. "Oh my god. He replied." Ruby looked just as shocked as Emma did, in that moment.

"What? Gimme my phone," she demanded, snatching it out of her best friend's hands. With her own fingers trembling, she pulled up the messenger app and opened their chat.

 **You are?**

 **That's a nice surprise.**

 **Isn't New Jersey a little far away?**

Emma dropped back down into her seat; a small smile working it's way over her face.

"I'm gonna leave you to your lunch. But I wanna hear _all_ about this later." Ruby pressed a kiss to Emma's forehead before she left the station, leaving Emma alone with her phone.

Emma mumbled, "bye," before turning her attention straight back to the screen in her hands.

 _A little._

 _Guess I just had THAT good of a time in Boston._

 **I know that feeling.**

 **So, how many photo ops have you booked this time?**

Emma blushed in her chair, even though she knew Killian would never see her. When she'd booked them, it had seemed like a good idea.

 _Um._

 _Maybe three?_

 **Are you asking me or telling me that?**

How did he still have the ability to make her act like a fangirl from hundreds of miles away?

 _They seemed like a good idea at the time._

 **Hey! I'm not complaining.**

 **You need to come up with some different pose ideas this time, though. Or your photos are all going to be hugging me!**

 _I have no problem with that._

 **Don't you want something a little more exciting?**

 _Maybe you should come up with something._

Emma was so lost in her conversation that she didn't even realise David had returned from his lunch break.

"Someone's happy today. Neal done something nice for you?"

Emma's head snapped up to watch David take a seat at his own desk, before she shook it, to clear it slightly.

"Um, no. It's not Neal. I was just reading." She really hoped she wasn't blushing as much as she thought she was.

"Ugh. It's not filthy is it? Mary-Margret's been reading all this erotica recently, wanting to recreate her favourite scenes."

That definitely wiped the smile off Emma's face. As much as she loved David and Mary-Margret, they were more like her siblings than her friends.

"Eww. Gross. Please _never_ let us talk about your sex life again."

David chuckled but quickly agreed, before he let the subject drop, in favour of finishing the rest of his paperwork.

Emma looked back down at her phone just in time to see one last message flash across the screen from Killian.

 **If you recall, I believe I already have ;-)**

* * *

As the weekend drew closer, Emma's nerves were starting to get the better of her.

And they were starting to get to Ruby too.

After three late night calls from Emma, asking various questions from, 'what if he doesn't recognise me?' to, 'what if Neal finds out where I'm going?' she'd finally started turning her phone off every evening.

The morning of her flight, Emma woke to an empty apartment. Neal hadn't even bothered leaving a note before he left, which just made her resolve to enjoy her weekend even stronger.

Ruby had offered to pick her up and drive her to the airport, before carrying on to the cabin for the weekend, and Emma was grateful for that. She was going to miss having her friend for moral support.

"Excited?" Ruby asked, as they merged onto the highway.

"Excited. Terrified. Nauseous. You name it, I feel it."

"You'll be fine, Ems. He _likes_ you. _Really_ likes you," Ruby soothed.

"That's not exactly helping me right now."

"Why not? Look, I know you love Neal. For some reason none of us can really understand, you see something in him. But, Killian Jones _likes_ you _,_ Emma. And even though you've only spent a handful of minutes around him, he treats you far better than that jackass ever has. So, if _something_ happens this weekend, don't feel guilty about it."

Emma didn't reply, instead she chose to focus on watching the familiar Maine roads pass by. Ruby didn't have anything to worry about anyway. Killian Jones had been polite to her so far, but Emma was under no illusions about his intentions towards her. He could have _any_ woman he wanted. He was just using Emma for a distraction while he was working.

"Are you sure you're gonna be okay going alone?" Ruby finally asked, breaking the silence in the car as she pulled up to the airport.

"I'll be fine," Emma assured her. "I'll call whenever I can."

She leaned over to give Ruby a hug, before she opened the car door and slid out, looking much more comfortable than she felt inside. Emma took her time grabbing her luggage, before finally working up the courage to head into the airport alone.

* * *

The flight to New Jersey went a lot smoother than Emma could have asked for. It helped to calm her nerves, along with the Diet Cola and rum she'd ordered before boarding.

She'd booked the Marriot hotel once more this time, but her reasons for doing so weren't quite as pure as they had been the first time. While the convention hotel still had rooms available, Emma had opted for the Marriot, hoping that maybe, just maybe, Killian would be booked into it again too. She knew it was a long shot, but it was one she was more than willing to take.

After checking in, and texting Ruby, she decided to take a bath to try and help calm her nerves and prepare her for the weekend. She scrubbed, buffed, shaved, plucked and moisturised everything, before finally leaving the bathroom feeling pampered and relaxed.

With nothing else left to do, and nervous energy racing through her veins, Emma decided to make the walk over to the convention hotel and register. It would save her a job in the morning, and give her the chance to time her journey. She also hoped it would help her calm down enough to sleep that night.

Thankfully, the walk to the convention hotel was both quick and simple, and she soon found herself once more in a room full of Fairytales fans, waiting to collect her pass and tickets. Emma missed Ruby more than ever at that moment. While she wouldn't call herself particularly shy, striking up conversation with the people around her seemed like an incredibly daunting task. One her bubbly best friend would have excelled at.

Fortunately for Emma, the woman stood in front of her in line had no issues with making conversation. Emma was surprised to learn that Ashley was also going to be her seat-buddy for the duration of the event, which gave the two women more to bond over. Ashley even hung behind, after registering, to wait for Emma to finish.

"Do you fancy getting something to eat?" she asked, as Emma was busy tucking her precious photo op and autograph vouchers into her bag.

"I could definitely eat," Emma agreed, her tummy beginning to grumble at the lack of food. She'd been too nervous to eat for most of the day.

"So, where have you come from?" Ashley asked, while they waited for a server to take their orders.

"Um… Maine," Emma replied, a little sheepishly.

"Wow. Long way to come for the convention. Could you not get tickets to the Boston one?"

"Oh, I went to that one too," she admitted. "Guess I just had so much fun I couldn't stay away."

"Well then, I hope we have just as good of a weekend this time." Ashley smiled as the server placed their drinks in front of them. She waited until they were alone once more before she asked, "So, did you get the chance to meet Killian Jones last time?"

"Oh yeah," Emma sighed, her mind already filling with images from that weekend.

"Is he uglier in person?" she wondered.

"Worse," Emma confessed, "He's even better looking in person."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanks for sticking with this story.**

* * *

The Friday of the event was rather relaxing for Emma. Ashley had agreed to meet with her for coffee before the afternoon's activities began and the two enjoyed a light lunch before heading for the main hall. Emma found herself enjoying the panels, laughing along at the behind-the-scenes antics the supporting cast were more than happy to discuss.

When the day's panels had finished, Ashley pulled her aside before they could leave. "I'm not really a karaoke kind of person," she admitted.

"Oh thank god, me either," Emma chuckled. "Fancy grabbing some dinner instead?"

"Definitely. If you're up for it, we could pop to the cinema too? Maybe see the new Marvel movie?" Ashley suggested.

"I would love that."

Emma spent the rest of her first full day in New Jersey enjoying the latest Avengers movie with Ashley, while the two of them bonded over their shared love for Killian Jones and Sebastian Stan.

* * *

Waking up Saturday morning was a whole other issue.

Emma was starting to regret not bringing Ruby along with her, for the simple fact that she had absolutely no idea what to wear for the day. She'd packed a number of different outfits for the weekend and now the choice seemed too vast.

She even tried calling Ruby for some advice, but the call wouldn't connect. Getting service up at the cabin was always difficult.

In the end, she settled on a pair of dark jeans, a red sweater and her black leather jacket. She thought she looked pretty good, she just hoped that Killian would feel the same way.

Ashley was waiting for her again outside the panel room, with a coffee in each hand. "Wow, Emma. You look great," she complimented, handing one of the cups over.

"Thanks. So do you," Emma returned, taking in Ashley's dress for the day. Now she wished she'd picked the dress she'd packed instead.

"I'm a little nervous," Ashley confessed. "I don't wanna puke all over his feet."

"Trust me, I know exactly how you feel. I think I'm even more nervous this time than I was the last," Emma sighed, resting her back against the wall behind her.

The two women stood in silence while they waited for the panel room to open, both stuck in their own heads, picturing the worst-case scenario for what would follow that day. Thankfully, it didn't take too long for the doors to open, and they were soon busy finding their seats, and settling in for the morning.

"He's on first, right?" Ashley asked, glancing around the half-empty room nervously.

"Yeah. Gold panel bonus," Emma chuckled. "It's worth the price increase for his accent alone."

"Don't tell me that's sexier in person than it is in YouTube videos."

Emma simply nodded her head as Ashley groaned in frustration next to her.

It didn't take long for the rest of the gold patrons to fill their seats, and before Emma knew it, the MC was taking to the stage.

"I'm not ready for this," she whispered. Ashley shot her a sympathetic look but didn't say anything. Her attention was already fully focused on the stage and the one empty seat, waiting to be filled.

When the MC finally announced, "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Killian Jones," Emma drew in a deep breath and held it.

A loud cheer went around the room as Killian made his way out on to the stage, looking as gorgeous as ever in a pair of simple jeans, a red and white plaid shirt, a black jacket, and a pair of black Converse.

"I'm so fucking screwed," Emma whispered to herself, the words lost in the noise of the room.

He took a moment to set his coffee down, remove his jacket and drape it over the back of his stool, before he turned his attention to the crowd gathered in front him.

"Good morning," he smiled, and Emma listened as Ashley's breath hitched beside her.

Killian picked his coffee back up, and took his seat on stage, as he scanned the crowd. "How is everyone this morning?" he asked, and the crowd grumbled out a mixture of replies. "Karaoke party _that_ good huh?"

Emma's own breath caught in her chest when his eyes finally landed on her, and widened ever so slightly. The corners of his lips quirked up into a small smile, before he pulled his gaze away, and turned to the people gathered at the side of the room waiting to fire off their questions.

The entire moment lasted no longer than a second, but Emma couldn't shake the feeling it gave her for the rest of his panel.

* * *

"Wow. I'm not sure I'm gonna survive an up-close meeting with him," Ashley sighed, when Killian had left the stage.

"He's so beautiful," Emma agreed. "I think I forgot how beautiful he was. Is that even possible?"

"Totally," Ashley nodded, standing up and stretching out her limbs. "I'm gonna run to the bathroom quick. Do you mind watching my bag?"

"Of course not."

* * *

Ashley had booked more photo ops for the weekend than Emma had, so while her friend was off, having them taken, Emma decided to message Ruby and try calling Neal.

Neal was not in a particularly chatty mood. Emma could hear the distinct sounds of the Rabbit Hole in the background and she knew that calling him later that evening wouldn't be possible. By that time, he'd already be too drunk to answer his phone.

Thankfully, Ashley was never far away for too long, which meant Emma wasn't left alone with her own thoughts for too long.

Killian's photo ops had been scheduled for after the lunch break, but neither Ashley nor Emma could face the thought of food. Both were far too nervous to even look at it, and instead opted to find a place to sit outside, in the sun.

"How many photo ops do you have with him?" Ashley asked, picking at the grass she was sat on.

"Um… three," Emma admitted, a little sheepishly.

"Nice." She looked up at Ashley's tone and smiled. "Trust me, if I were creative enough to think up poses for three, I'd have brought more."

"Shit. I haven't even thought of that," Emma admitted. Her mind had lingered a little over Killian's handcuff suggestion, and she'd quickly stuffed them into the inside of her jacket when she was dressing that morning. But she wasn't sure she had the balls to actually suggest using them.

"Well, three hugs would be good enough, to be fair. At least you'd get longer in his arms."

"Yeah," Emma sighed, dropping back down to lay on the field they'd chosen to rest in. Images of the last time he'd had his arms around her flashed through her mind.

* * *

"Okay… this is torture," Ashley laughed, a little hysterically, as the line for Killian's photo op crawled forward.

"Cruel and unusual torture," Emma agreed. She'd done her best to make sure they were the end of the line, just in case Killian remembered her in person, so the wait for his photo op was taking far longer than any of Ashley's others that day.

"At least we get the responsibility of leaving a lasting impression," Ashley pointed out.

"Oh God, now I wish we'd been first."

Emma's foot tapped restlessly as the line moved closer and closer to the area that had been set up for photo ops. When she was finally in sight of Killian, her breath caught in her throat once more.

He really was _so_ beautiful in person.

She watched with Ashley as he spoke briefly with each person in line, before happily agreeing to their hugs, or poses for the photos.

There was one moment where he stopped to take a quick drink from the bottle of water that had been sat on the floor for him. Emma wasn't ashamed to admit that she wasn't the only person in the room who groaned in frustration when he bent over to pick it up.

Finally, after what seemed like months of waiting, Ashley was ushered in for her picture. Emma watched as she smiled shyly up at Killian, and allowed him to pull her in for a hug, before she made her way out of the room, looking just as dazed as everyone else had been before her.

When the volunteer gave Emma a gentle nudge in his direction, she took a deep breath, squared her shoulders, and made her way forward.

"Emma, hi," he beamed, as she got close enough to hear him over the music. "Three this time, right?"

"Yeah," she croaked out, still a little shocked that he'd remembered.

Killian pulled her into his arms for the first one; a hug that was much tighter than any of the other women had gotten. When the flash went off he leaned down to whisper, "Still didn't quite believe it was me, huh?"

This time, Emma was the one laughing a little manically. "The picture you sent was quite convincing," she reassured him.

"So, did you bring them?" he asked, his eyes lighting up with the familiar mischief she often saw on Hook's face every Sunday evening.

"Bring what?"

"Well, the handcuffs, of course," he teased.

"Um…" The words Emma had been looking for were _yes, what would you like to do with them?_ Instead, what came out was, "Am I doing you or are you doing me?"

"Well, for the right person I'd be happy to switch."

And of course, he felt the need to punctuate that statement with a wink.

Emma willed her legs to keep her upright as she fished inside of her jacket pocket for the cuff's she'd stored there earlier in the day, and held them up between the two of them, dangling from her index finger.

"You know what, I think this works," he told her. "Hold that." He turned back to face the photographer once more. Emma wasn't quite sure what was going on, but she saw the flash of the camera, telling her that her second picture had been taken.

"So, if I put these on, are they gonna come off?" he asked, taking the cuffs from her.

"Yeah," she croaked out. "I have the key with me."

"Excellent."

Emma had never seen a man so excited to slap a pair of handcuffs on himself before. She watched as he fitted them loosely to each wrist, before looping his arms around her once more, and pulling her back into his chest. He gave a slight nod to the photographer and Emma hoped like hell that she'd remembered to smile.

"Thank you for that. It's not every day a guy gets to experience being cuffed by an _actual_ law enforcement officer." He beamed down at her, as he held his arms out in front of his body. It took Emma a beat longer than it should have to realise he wanted her to remove the cuffs for him. She did so with barely shaking hands, which she was actually rather proud of, before slipping them back into her pocket.

"Shall we?" Killian asked, snagging his water bottle from the floor and gesturing with his arm towards the doors leading out of the room. Emma had completely forgotten she was the last in the queue.

"Sure," she agreed, nodding her head and instantly regretting it. She probably looked like an idiot.

Killian waited until they were out of earshot of anyone else, his handler keeping a respectable distance, before he leaned down a little to whisper, "You look great today."

The words caught Emma off guard and she stumbled slightly. The only thing that stopped her crashing into the floor was Killian's arm as it shot out to wrap around her waist.

"Thanks," she mumbled, her cheeks already flaming.

"No worries." He pulled the door open for her to exit through first and she had never been so disappointed to see Ashley, who had been leaning against the wall, waiting for her.

"Oh my God, he's _really_ pretty," Ashley sighed, moving to Emma's side.

"Thanks," Killian laughed from behind them both, making Ashley jump and squeal a little in surprised embarrassment. "See you later." He winked again for effect and Ashley's knees buckled a little too.

Emma was relieved to know it wasn't just _her_ he had that effect on.

"Oh God, how am I ever gonna face him again?" Ashley wondered, as Emma guided the two of them to the bar on autopilot. They were both in need of a stiff drink.

It was only when they were sat round a small table, a glass of Diet Cola and rum in front of themselves, that Ashley finally asked, "You kinda took a while in there. Did everything go okay?"

"Yeah…" Emma trailed off, her mind racing as it tried to come up with some kind of plausible excuse for her delay. "The camera malfunctioned."

She had a feeling she was going to be using _that_ excuse quite a lot at conventions in the future.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **For those asking, yes – I am exactly like Emma every time I'm at a convention. It leads to some interesting interactions!**


	9. Chapter 9

**It seemed appropriate to post this first, as I've just gotten back from my first Once Convention of the year!**

* * *

"So, how does yours look?" Ashley asked, clutching her photo op to her chest like a lifeline.

Emma handed over her first picture with Killian. It was the only one she'd picked up so far, and she was hoping Ashley would be too distracted to remember the other two.

"Oh that's so much better than mine," she sighed. "How did you get him to hug you so tightly?"

"Just lucky, I guess." Emma hoped her blush would just be written off as her reaction to the photo in her hands.

"Damn. I have to run to make my last op," Ashley noted. "Will you be around after?"

"Sure, I can wait for you."

Emma waited until Ashley had left the room to scan the table once more for the last of her photo ops. She loved her first picture. Ashley was right; Killian had been hugging her much tighter than he had anyone else, and they both looked happy, smiling widely for the camera.

The second picture she found almost made her drop the first. Emma was turned to the side, so her expression wasn't clearly seen, but Killian was not. The look on his face as he watched the handcuffs dangle from her finger was the perfect mixture of adorable and sexy. Something only he seemed to be able to pull of.

The third and final photo took her a little longer to spot, but she was so happy when she did. She was once more smiling widely for the camera, but the look on Killian's face was deadly. He'd managed to arch one eyebrow perfectly, looking somehow satisfied at the idea of being caught and incredibly dangerous in those handcuffs too.

Emma had no idea how he managed to say so much without saying an actual word.

"Those were great," one of the volunteers complimented.

"Thanks," Emma smiled, blushing slightly at the thought of someone else seeing them.

"How did you find the courage to ask for those poses?" she continued.

"Um… he suggested them," Emma replied, her blush deepening as she watched the volunteer's jaw drop.

"Well, you're a lucky lady."

* * *

Ashley and Emma met once more that day, to eat dinner together before separating for the night. Ashley wanted to attend the evening concert and Emma just wanted to get back to her room and sleep a little. The adrenaline that had been working it's way through her body all day was wearing off, and she suddenly found herself exhausted.

A small part of her was hoping that she would run in to Killian Jones again on her way back, but she hadn't seen him at all outside of the convention this time. So instead, she showered and made herself comfortable in bed. After firing off a message to Ruby, and then one to Neal, she turned on a rerun of _Friends_ to fall asleep to.

On Sunday, Emma and Ashley had a relaxing day, as they only had autographs left for the afternoon. Emma had splashed out on a fancy poster for signing. She might not be able to hang it as soon as she got home, but she was going to hang it eventually, no matter what Neal said.

The day seemed to drag, both girls hyper aware that they would get their final time with Killian that afternoon during his panel, and then at his autograph session. It seemed like the rest of the attendees were feeling the same way, as there was a noticeable shift in the atmosphere in the room when the MC took to the stage before Killian's panel.

Ashley and Emma let out appreciative groans when he took to the stage. Killian looked positively sinful in dark jeans and a royal purple shirt.

"Good afternoon," he began, making himself comfortable on stage. "Have you all had a good weekend?"

While the chorus of yeses came from the crowd, Killian used the time to scan it. It didn't take him long for his eyes to settle on Emma.

"I've had a brilliant one," he announced. "I finally got my chance to try a real pair of handcuffs during yesterday's photo op session." As the cacophony of cat calls and whistles rang out amongst the crowd, Killian winked in Emma's direction. Thankfully, everyone seemed far too distracted by what he'd actually said to pay any attention to what he was doing.

"God, I would kill to have that man chained up for my use," Ashley whispered.

"Me too," Emma agreed, hoping her blush wasn't giving her away.

When the crowd finally settled down, Killian began taking their questions, once again answering each as thoroughly as he could, without giving away too many spoilers for the upcoming episodes. Emma was touched at how much time he gave to each of the fans who waited in line to ask him something. He really did seem to love the events just as much as the fans did.

When his time came to a close, the room let out a simultaneous groan as Killian said goodbye, and was quickly whisked away to his final autograph session of the weekend.

"Ugh, I can't believe it's almost time to go home," Ashley moaned, as they gathered their bags to make a quick stop at the bathroom, before joining the queue for their autographs. "I don't wanna leave."

"It gets worse," Emma added. "Con-crash is real and it sucks. I hate knowing that Tuesday morning I need to go back to work."

"You're going back for Tuesday? I won't be back at work now until next week," Ashley commiserated. "I feel for you."

* * *

Emma wasn't quite as successful that time at making sure they were last for Killian's autograph. She wasn't too upset, though. She knew he wouldn't have much time, with it being the last event of the day. So instead, she and Ashley waited patiently for their turn, exchanging details to keep in touch with each other after the event.

Ashley once again took the lead when it was their turn and Emma watched as she approached Killian's bench and slid her photo op down for him to sign. They exchanged a few words but before Emma fully had time to compose herself, she was being pushed in Killian's direction.

"Ah, Emma," he smiled up at her. "Let's see how they came out this time?" Emma had only planned to get her poster signed, so she sat it down to pull out her folder and the photo ops she had tucked safely inside of it.

While she did that, Killian took his time unrolling her poster and browsing what everyone else had written on it for her. He chuckled at a few of the messages he saw, before he bent his head to scribble his own, and finished it with his autograph. By the time he'd finished, Emma had her three photo ops in hand.

Killian took them from her carefully, his fingers lightly brushing over her own. The first one he saw was the picture of their hug, and he smiled down at it, before picking up his pen to scribble another message onto it. Emma saw as his handler leaned over to whisper something to him, probably about how Emma had only purchased the one autograph, but Killian simply waved her away before handing the picture back to Emma.

The next one was the second they had taken, with the cuffs dangling from Emma's finger between the two of them. Like last time, he pulled out his phone to take a quick shot of it, before once again bending his head to autograph the picture.

The final image, the one of him wearing the cuffs, with Emma in his arms, seemed to be his favourite, as he lingered over it much longer than any of the others. Again, he took a quick picture with his phone, before signing the photo and handing it back to Emma.

The entire moment had only lasted a few minutes, at most, but they had felt like the longest of her life.

"It was nice to see you again, Emma," he told her, finally making eye contact - and Emma's knees went weak. "Maybe I'll see you in Vegas?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "Yeah, you will."

She left before anything else could be said.

* * *

That night, Ashley and Emma headed out for one last meal, before Ashley would have to drive back home. Emma was going to miss her friend. Much like Regina and Belle, she'd grown quite close to Ashley over the three days they had known each other. She made sure to promise to keep in touch, and the girls even spoke of meeting at the Vancouver event later in the year. One that Regina and Belle had expressed interest in attending too. Emma just knew that Ashley would love them both.

When they said goodbye, Emma decided to grab one last drink before heading back to her hotel for the final night. She was a little disappointed not to have gotten any time with Killian away from the event, but she knew that the chance of it happening again would be slim. The first convention was nothing more than a series of lucky flukes.

Thankfully, the walk back was quick enough and she soon found herself sprinting through the hotel lobby to catch the elevator that was heading up, just before the doors closed. She slipped inside, hitting the button for her floor, before resting her weight against the back wall and dropping her eyes shut.

"We really should stop meeting like this."

The voice from her right had her eyes springing wide open, as she turned ever so slightly to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. She'd had a few drinks with dinner, after all.

"Maybe this is our thing," she suggested, taking in his relaxed posture. He'd got the leg closest to hers bent up, so his foot was resting on the back wall, making him look the picture of casual elegance.

"I can see the headlines now – Killian Jones's torrid love affair in elevators all over North America."

Emma choked on air at his words. "You want a torrid love affair?"

"Oh God, no," he rushed to reassure her. "Sorry, that came out _all_ wrong. I mean, I'm kind of attracted to you. I thought you knew that. But I'm _not_ propositioning you for sex in an elevator."

"Shame," Emma mumbled, too quietly to be heard. Her mind was stuck on images of what sex in an elevator with him would be like.

Hot, she decided. It would probably be the best sex of her life.

"I've scared you now, haven't I?" Killian sighed, dropping his head back against the wall of the elevator.

"No, you haven't," Emma managed to choke out. "I… um." God she really needed another drink for this. "I like you too. Obviously. It's why I spend all this money. I mean, I'm really only here to see _you…"_

Emma's ramblings stopped suddenly as Killian moved, backing her into the wall of the elevator before he dropped his lips down to meet hers. For a long moment, she was frozen under his hands, her brain not yet working fast enough to process what was happening to her.

Killian pulled back just as suddenly as he'd moved, very aware that Emma was non-responsive underneath his hands.

"Oh God, I'm so sorry," he apologised. "I completely read this wrong." The doors slid open, marking the arrival on Emma's floor but she made no move to leave.

"You didn't," she finally croaked out. "I just… I can't believe you kissed me. I mean, I've dreamed about kissing you. They're _very_ good dreams. But I never thought it would actually happen."

"Was it a terrible kiss?" he asked, looking more unsure of himself than Emma had ever seen him look before.

"Best of my life," she admitted, a little breathlessly, running her fingers gently over her lips.

Killian chuckled in embarrassment, bringing his right hand up to scratch behind his ear. When the elevator doors slid open once more, this time on his floor, he hooked his thumb behind himself and asked, "Do you, um… do you maybe wanna come in for a while?"

Emma knew she should refuse.

She should say goodbye and go back to her own room for the night.

Instead, she found herself nodding her agreement.

"Yeah. I'd like that," she told him, smiling up sweetly at him.

Killian nodded his head once before lacing his fingers with Emma's and leading her out of the small elevator, down the hall to his suite.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Back from another con and off to another this weekend!**

* * *

As the door to Killian's suite clicked shut behind her, Emma's nerves ramped up.

"Can I get you a drink?" he asked, letting go of her hand to make his way over to the refrigerator.

"Yes, please," Emma called back.

"Anything in particular?"

"As long as it's got alcohol in it, it's all good," she laughed, swallowing down her worries.

One part of her head was screaming at her to leave before things fully got out of hand. The other part was telling her to sit down and enjoy herself. Emma was getting a headache from it all.

"Here." Killian jerked her out of her thoughts by handing her a glass of cola and _something_ before he indicated the sofas she was standing by. "You can sit, you know," he teased.

Emma took a huge gulp from her drink, appreciating the burn of the whiskey as it slid down her throat, before she sat down on the sofa. Killian dropped down in the seat next to her, close enough that she could feel the heat from his thigh, but not close enough to be touching.

"You can relax," he chuckled. "I didn't invite you here with expectations of sex. I just thought that, maybe, it would be nice to get to know each other a little better. _In person_."

Emma tried her hardest to relax back into the sofa. She really did. But being so close to Killian was making her brain foggy. Or maybe that was the alcohol? "What did you want to know?" she asked.

"Well, tell me about yourself. How did you end up as a town's sheriff?"

"Wow. Talk about starting heavy," she murmured. Killian looked as if he was about to say something else, so she carried on. "I um… the old sheriff, before he died, he found me in the woods in town when I was a teenager. I'd run away from a group home and just didn't stop running that time. He found me in this old abandoned cabin, and kept bringing me food and supplies. Never really pushed me to come back to town or to tell him what I'd been running from until I was ready. When I mentioned being bored to him one day, he asked me to come back to the station. Told me that he needed a secretary to help with the paperwork and he'd pay me to do it. Enough to get a place of my own that didn't leak water every time it rained. I kinda went from there."

Killian let Emma's words hang between them for a moment. She'd revealed so much about herself with that one answer, and he wasn't really sure where to go from there.

"How about you?" she asked, taking another sip from her drink. "How did you get into acting?"

"You're telling me you don't already know?" he asked, with a chuckle.

"No, I do. But I'd rather hear it from you."

Killian was happy to launch into his own story about his love for acting, and his days at drama school. Emma laughed in all the right places, and sighed a little dreamily when he revealed that he'd studied in France for a while, and was fluent in the language.

"Sounds like you had a great upbringing," she noted, accepting another drink, and relaxing a little more, as Killian finished telling a story about his brother's own venture into the acting world.

"I did. I got lucky." He took a risk with his next words and said, "I'm sorry yours wasn't as good."

"It's okay," Emma assured him. "I've long since accepted what happened. Can't change my past so might as well focus on making the most of my future."

"That's an excellent mindset to have," he complimented. "Do you mind if I ask what happened for you to end up in a group home? You don't have to tell me," he rushed to add, wanting her to know that she was under no pressure to open up to him.

"Abandoned as a baby," Emma stated, a little bitterly. "I was three days old when I was found at the side of a road in the middle of nowhere."

"Shit." Killian scrubbed his hand roughly over his face. He couldn't imagine growing up knowing that his parents hadn't wanted him, let alone that they literally cared so little they would leave their baby to die on an abandoned road. "I'm so sorry, Emma."

"Hey, it's not your fault," Emma assured him. "Nothing to be sorry about."

"Have you ever tried tracking them down to get some answers?"

"Nope and I don't want to." It was something Emma had only considered once before in her life. "If they couldn't even care enough to leave me somewhere safe, why should I care enough to hear their reasoning?"

Killian reached for Emma's hand before he really knew what he was doing. The moment he made contact with her she drew in a deep breath, electricity coursing through her veins and sending her heart into overdrive.

He waited until her eyes met his before he moved slowly, cupping her face gently with his free hand and leaning in to press his lips to hers. Emma was expecting the kiss this time, so instead of freezing under his touch, she moved with him, letting her lips lightly brush against his and bringing her free hand up to rest gently against his shoulder.

Killian pulled back after a moment, using his thumb to stroke soothing circles into Emma's jaw, as he waited for her eyes to flutter open again. When they did, he was smiling softly back at her.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered into the small space between them. "How has nobody snapped you up yet?"

The words were like a cold bucket of ice to Emma's overheated brain and she jumped away, knocking her drink over in the process.

"Emma?" Killian asked, standing slowly. "Are you okay? Did I do something wrong?"

"No… Yes… Maybe?" She threw her hands up in frustration and began pacing the length of the room.

"What's wrong?" he asked, patiently. "What did I do?"

Emma huffed out a sigh before dropping back down into a seat a little further away from him.

"I'm sorry," she choked out, her eyes already beginning to fill with tears. "I'm so sorry."

"What for?" Killian asked, panicking a little at the sight of a crying woman in his hotel suite. "Emma, you're not making any sense." He approached her carefully, like he would a terrified puppy, before crouching before her. "If you don't want _this…_ If you don't want _me_ … I'll understand."

"I do," she cried, letting the first of her tears fall. "I do want you and that's the problem."

"Why is it a problem?" he asked, bringing his hand up to brush away her tears.

The question only made the them fall harder, as Emma wrestled with her morals. Killian gave her as much time as she needed to calm herself.

When she finally found her composure, and her words, he wished she hadn't.

"I have a fiancé."

"Excuse me?" He wasn't sure he'd heard her properly.

"I'm engaged," she explained.

Killian pulled his hand away from her face like it had been burned. Which only made Emma's tears fall harder and faster.

"I'm sorry, Killian..."

He didn't let her finish her sentence, instead cutting her off with a harsh laugh. "You're sorry?" he asked. "What for? For leading on me? For playing with me? For using me? Which one?" The sharpness of his tone caught Emma off guard and she dashed away her tears with an angry fist.

"I wasn't playing you," she began.

"Really?" he interrupted. "So… what were you doing then? One last fling before the big day? Or was it a way to make some extra cash? Sell your story to the tabloids about how I stole you away from the man you love?"

This time Killian was the one who was pacing and as much as Emma wanted to approach him, his entire demeanor was screaming to leave him be.

"It's not like that," she tried explaining. "I promise. I never intended for this to happen."

"And why should I believe that?" he screamed, whirling on her. "You had _every_ opportunity to tell me the truth, Emma. So, what the hell was this?"

"I didn't expect _this_." Her own voice had risen with her hurt and anger. She had to do _something_ to make him understand. "I never thought you'd be interested in me. Why the hell would I tell some random guy that I was engaged if I didn't expect anything to happen between us?"

"Did the fact that I _sought you out_ not in anyway suggest that this was going somewhere?" Killian snarled. "You could have told me _then._ You _should_ have told me then."

He dropped back down onto the sofa, fisting his hair in his hands. Emma had never seen him look so tired or defeated before. She let the silence linger for a few seconds, before she quietly stood up and made her way over to him. He gave her no signs of having heard her approach until she reached out for him. The moment her hand landed on his forearm, Killian pulled away, fire once again shining in his eyes.

"Get. Out," he snapped down at her.

"Killian, please," Emma begged.

"Get out," he repeated, much more calmly. The tone scared Emma more than his anger had done.

"Please, Killian. Just let me explain."

"No. You had your chance and you blew it. Get. Out. Emma."

He stood up suddenly, making Emma drop back onto her bottom to avoid him, as he paced over to the windows of his suite. He said nothing more as she stood, gathering her bag and jacket, while tears fell down her face.

It was only as she reached for the door handle that he finally turned to face her, and for one small moment, she hoped that he'd changed his mind.

"I can't stop you attending Vegas con if you've already booked, but don't bother with any more conventions after that. I don't ever want to see you again," he told her. "I'll have security remove you if I see you there."

Emma nodded her agreement, swallowing back her sobs as she pulled open the door and slipped out. The click of it closing behind her seemed to echo through the empty hall, as she made her way back down to the elevator.

It was only when she finally managed to push through her own room door, the tears having made it much harder to get into, that she finally let it all out. She dropped her bag onto the floor, sliding her back down the door to curl into herself as she cried for everything that she'd just lost in that moment.

* * *

 **I'm so sorry for the angst. But it was needed. Please don't hate me.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Sorry to keep you all waiting for this one.**

* * *

"Have you been crying?" Ruby asked, the moment Emma slid into the car.

"I don't wanna talk about it," Emma sniffed. She'd cried most of the flight home, to the worry of the passenger next to her. And all the way to the airport in New Jersey, to the dismay of the cab driver.

Ruby put the car in to park before turning in her seat to face her friend. "I'm not moving this car until you tell me what's happened."

Emma took a deep breath, in an attempt to clear her mind a little, before she began her story. "Killian kissed me."

"He did?" Ruby yelled. "Why the hell are you crying over that? Isn't that a good thing?"

"Well it would have been if he hadn't kicked me out of his room and told me he never wanted to see me again after," Emma snapped back.

"Wait, what?" Ruby's face darkened. "Did he use you for sex?"

"No, of course not," Emma scoffed. "We never even got that far."

"So why did he throw you out? I've kissed you before, Ems, you're not _that_ bad at it."

Emma hated that the tears were already spilling over at just the thought of what had happened. "I told him about Neal," she whispered.

"Why would you do that?"

"Why wouldn't I?" she countered. "I'm not _that_ person, Ruby. I don't want to start a relationship with someone on a lie and I _certainly_ don't want to be a cheater."

"Oh Ems," Ruby sighed, reaching out to hug her friend awkwardly over the console of the car. "I'm so sorry."

"I didn't think he'd take it so badly," she sobbed. "He didn't even give me a chance to explain everything."

"Have you tried messaging him?" Ruby asked, running a soothing hand through her friend's hair. "Maybe leave it in a message so he can read it when he's calmed down?"

Emma pulled back with a start, her eyes brightening. "Why didn't I think of that?" she asked, pulling her phone out and hurrying to switch it on. Those few moments it took to load up seemed to drag out forever.

When she pulled up her messenger app, she'd wished Ruby had never made the suggestion.

"He blocked me," she stated, the emotion and colour once more draining from her face, before she threw herself back into her friend's arms. Ruby held her until Emma finally stopped shaking and her sobs quietened down.

"So, what are you going to tell Neal?" she asked, when they were back on the road.

"I'm gonna tell him the truth and hope that he doesn't kick me out."

"Okay, it's _your_ home. He _can't_ kick you out. But you _could_ ask him to leave," Ruby hedged.

"Why would I do that?"

"Emma, if Killian hadn't asked you to leave that day, what would you have done?"

Emma sat back in her seat as she thought through Ruby's question. She knew she never would have allowed things to progress past a kiss. She didn't want to hurt Neal that way. But she'd be lying if she said she hadn't been interested in seeing where things with Killian could have gone.

"What does it matter?" she finally huffed. "Killian doesn't ever want to see me again. Hell, he even told me that if I go to any more conventions after Vegas he'll have me kicked out. So it's a moot point."

"He said what now?" Ruby asked, turning her head to look at Emma.

"He said he'd have security remove me," she sulked. "Keep your eyes on the damned road."

Ruby rolled said eyes once before turning back to the road. "I meant about Vegas, Emma. He said _after_ Vegas?"

"Yeah," she agreed, not really sure where her friend was going with this.

"Why _after_ Vegas? Why not _at_ Vegas?" Ruby pushed.

"I guess he thought I'd already booked and paid for the convention. But he doesn't need to worry. I'm not going."

"Oh yes you are," Ruby instructed. "Vegas is your chance to explain things to him Emma. To make him understand why you didn't tell him about Neal. You _have_ to go."

"What's the point?" Emma demanded. "It's not like he's gonna give me any time to talk to him. He's already blocked me on Facebook. He's probably gonna change his hotel and everything else too."

" _Make it happen_ , Emma. Even if you have to beg him for a minute of his time in photo ops. If you want him, you need to make him understand."

"And what if I don't want him? I have Neal. I have a good life _without_ Killian Jones in it." Emma's heart broke a little at the thought.

"I don't think you'd look like _that_ if you didn't want him," was Ruby's only reply.

* * *

"Are you gonna be okay?" Ruby asked, as Emma climbed out of the car.

"Yeah. I'll be fine."

"Do you know what you're gonna do?" she pressed.

"Not yet. But I'll let you know when I do," Emma assured her, leaning in to hug her friend. "Thanks for everything, Ruby."

"Love you, Ems."

She climbed the stairs to her apartment slowly, her mind already racing. Emma really hoped Neal wouldn't be at home just yet. She needed time to think and that would be better done without him around.

Unfortunately, luck was not on her side, and as soon as she pushed open the door, she came face-to-face with Neal and his friends, hogging the sofa in the lounge as they watched some kind of sport on TV. There were dirty dishes in the kitchen and the lounge was littered with empty bottles and cans.

"Oh, hey Ems," Neal called pushing up from the sofa and making his way over to her. He leaned down to press a kiss to her lips but Emma turned her head slightly, so he caught her cheek. She wasn't yet ready to forget to feel of Killian's lips pressed against her own. "Everything okay?" he asked, pulling back with a frown.

"Yeah." Emma did her best to plaster on a fake smile. "Just not feeling well. I think I caught something. I'm just gonna go and lie down for a while."

"Okay." Neal didn't look terribly convinced, but he didn't say anything as he watched Emma retreat to their bedroom.

Once inside, she changed into something comfy and threw herself into bed, hoping to get some sleep.

* * *

When Emma woke again, it was dark outside and the apartment was quiet. She made her way softly out into the lounge to find Neal alone, watching TV. He'd tidied up since she'd first returned, taking all of the empty bottles and cans out and even washing the dirty dishes. Emma was grateful for that.

"How are you feeling?" he asked, looking up and away from the screen.

"Better," she admitted. Sleep really had helped her feel a little more human.

Neal hummed his acknowledgement of her answer but didn't say anything else until Emma had a mug of hot cocoa in her hands and was curled up on the sofa. "You wanna watch your show?" he asked.

"Huh?" Emma wasn't sure if she was more confused about the show or the fact that he was even making the offer to begin with.

"That show you're always banging on about. Wasn't it on Sunday night? Do you wanna watch it?"

Emma did.

She _really_ did.

But she knew she wouldn't be able to handle seeing Killian on her screen again without breaking down. And she wasn't ready to explain the reason why to Neal.

"No, not tonight," she sighed. "I'll watch it when I'm feeling better."

Neal raised a brow in Emma's direction but said nothing else. Instead he just passed her the remote so she could settle on an old sitcom rerun for the two of them to watch.

They were three episodes into a _Scrubs_ marathon when Emma suddenly mumbled, "I kissed another man."

"Huh?" Neal asked.

"I kissed someone else this weekend," Emma repeated, a little louder.

"Another guy?" Neal picked up the remote and shut the TV off, turning to face Emma fully.

"Yeah," she admitted, quietly. It wasn't exactly something she was proud of.

"Were you drunk or something?"

"I'd had a couple but I knew what I was doing, if that's what you're asking?"

Neal remained silent for the longest time, before he picked the remote back up and turned the TV on again.

"Is that it?" Emma asked, her voice rising. "End of conversation?"

"You didn't sleep with him, right?" Emma nodded her agreement before Neal continued, "Then yeah, end of conversation. We all make mistakes, Em."

"Mistakes?" she seethed. "How many _mistakes_ have you made in our relationship?"

"A couple," Neal shrugged. "You know what it's like when you've had a few drinks. But as long as you didn't have sex with the guy, it's okay."

Emma's jaw dropped in disbelief. "How _many_ are a couple?" she asked again, her tone hardening.

Neal looked over to where she was sat, taking in her tense posture before he replied. "Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" he asked. "You were the one who just confessed to kissing another guy while you were supposed to be out shopping for a wedding dress. Do you see me getting angry?"

"You should be," Emma replied. "Because I'm fuming. How _dare_ you kiss other women when you're supposed to be engaged to me?"

"You wanna play that game, Ems? Fine. How _dare_ you kiss another guy while shopping for a dress for _our wedding?"_

Emma was so hurt and angry at that moment that she spoke before she really had a chance to think it through. "I wasn't shopping for a dress for _our wedding._ I was at a Fairytales convention in New Jersey."

The silence that blanketed the room was loaded. For a long moment, nobody said anything, Emma still reeling from the realization that her fiancé wasn't as faithful as she had thought, and Neal still absorbing the bomb she'd dropped.

"A Fairytales convention?" he finally asked. "One of those places you can meet that guy you lust all over?" At Emma's sheepish nod he continued, "And how fucking much did you spend on that?"

"None of your business," she snapped.

"Of course it's _my_ business. I wanna know how much of our money you've wasted meeting this guy. I mean, I assume he's the reason you went."

"It's not _your money,_ " she yelled back. "It's mine. All your money comes from your father. It's _my_ money that pays our bills and _my_ money to waste at conventions if I choose too."

"Conventions?" Neal asked, his tone now deadly calm.

"Yeah, that's what they're called," Emma sassed back.

"I know. I just wanted to know why you choose to use the plural in that sentence." Realization dawned over Emma's face just as Neal asked, "How many have you been to?"

"Two," she sighed. "I've been to two."

"Of course you have. What, hoping your dear Captain Hook will see you enough to fall in love you with?" The mocking tone his voice adapted had Emma seeing red once more.

"How do you know it's not him I kissed?"

" _Please_ ," Neal laughed. "Like he'd ever be interested in someone like you. Dream on, Ems."

As he turned to face away from her once more, Emma's red haze cleared just enough for her to utter the words, "Get out."

"What?" he asked, turning back to face her.

"I said get out," she replied, standing from the sofa to make her way over to the front door. "Get out of my home."

" _Our_ home," Neal amended.

" _My home_ ," she snapped back. "I paid for it. It's mine. Now _get the hell out._ " She wrenched open the front door and Neal sighed, looking between it and Emma's face before he finally stood, and made his way over to her.

"Fine, have it your way," he told her. "I'll be at my dad's when you're ready to apologize."

Emma truly hoped that the door had hit him on the ass as she slammed it shut behind him.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Finally finished my exams which means I am officially free from here onwards! Wooo. Hopefully that means I can get back into a more regular posting schedule for you guys.**

 **Thanks so much for all of your support with this story.**

* * *

"Okay, get up," Ruby snapped, throwing open Emma's drapes. "I get it. You're miserable. But I'm not letting you wallow in here all week."

Emma had called in sick for work for the first time in her life after throwing Neal out. Word had slowly made its way around Storybrooke that the Sherriff and Mr. Gold's son had broken up, so David had told Emma to take the rest of the week off. Well, he'd sent her a text message. Emma hadn't answered any calls that week. Most of the town were convinced that she was grieving over the loss of her relationship.

But Ruby knew better.

"Shower. Now," she barked, as Emma pulled herself out of bed to offer her friend the closest thing she could manage to a death-glare. Ruby wasn't in any way intimidated by Emma's look, so after a moment she huffed out a sigh, grabbed some fresh clothes, and shut herself away in the bathroom.

While she was gone, Ruby put her plan in to action.

* * *

Ruby managed to convince Emma to leave her apartment when she left the bathroom. They decided to take it slow, heading to Granny's for a bite to eat. It would also be the perfect place for Emma to see how bad the local gossip was.

She had been expecting the staring and the whispering. It came with living in such a small town. However, she hadn't been expecting the rumors that came along with it.

"Why does everyone think Neal cheated on me?" she asked Ruby, when Granny had set their hot chocolates in front of them with a muttered, "you're better off without him."

"Um… because he's a scum bag and you can do better?" Ruby asked sweetly.

"But technically I cheated on him. I kissed another man."

"Yeah and he's been seen kissing other women before, Ems." At the look on Emma's face, Ruby held up her hand to stop any further ramblings. "We've all tried telling you before that he's no good for you. You just needed the time to come to those conclusions yourself. And now that you've met someone who treats you well… you have."

"Yeah, and I drove him away too," she sighed. "I'm such an idiot."

"No, you're not, Emma," Ruby consoled reaching for her friend's hand. "He'll come around. He just needs some time."

"He could have anyone he wanted, Ruby. I doubt he's gonna be too hung up over me." Emma pushed her mug away, suddenly not in the mood for company. She just wanted to go back to bed and forget the entire nightmare.

* * *

Her life slowly began to return to normal after that first week. She started small, heading back to work and catching up with the paperwork she'd ignored before the convention. David and Mary-Margret invited her over for dinner once a week, and she gladly accepted, knowing her friends wouldn't push her for an explanation about anything.

Neal showed up at the station at the end of the second week, to ask if Emma had come to her senses yet. David might have laughed a little too loudly when Emma offered him a place in the cells for the night if he didn't get the hell out of her life.

The next day, most of his clothes had disappeared from their apartment by the time Emma had finished work, and she made a mental note to have the locks changed before he could make off with anything that was worth a pretty penny.

Ruby showed up every Sunday evening for a girl's night, but never pushed the issue when Emma refused to watch Fairytales with her. She knew her friend was still hurting over the loss of _whatever_ had been going on between herself and Killian Jones. And Ruby knew better than anyone else that pushing Emma would result in one of two things. Her friend would either shut her out completely, or she'd run again. So instead, the two women would eat whatever takeout took their fancy and empty the fridge of white wine as they laughed and giggled about the stories Ruby heard waiting tables for her grandmother.

* * *

As the weekend of Vegas Con drew closer, Emma's mood began to darken again. Killian still hadn't unblocked her on Facebook and he'd even gone so far as to block her on Twitter too. She'd hoped that Ruby would be right, and he'd reach out to her before the event. But instead, he'd made it perfectly clear that he never wanted anything to do with her again.

So, when she came home on Thursday afternoon to find that Ruby was waiting for her, outside of her apartment, sat on top of a packed suitcase, Emma was more than a little confused.

"Where are you going?" she asked, unlocking the front door.

" _We_ are going to Vegas," Ruby announced excitedly.

"Uh… no we're not," Emma assured her friend. "I told you, Killian doesn't want to see me and I didn't even bother booking tickets."

"You might not have… but I did."

Emma's head shot round to glare at her friend.

"Look, you can argue all you want Ems, but this is making you miserable. You need to see him, even if it's only to beg him to listen to you. At least try and get some closure this way. And, if all else fails – It's Vegas! We can drown your sorrows and gamble away our life savings while making questionable moral decisions."

Emma didn't look convinced. "What if he has me thrown out?"

"If he does, then he's not good enough for you, Emma. But I think you'll be surprised. He's probably hurt that you lied to him. He'll come around when he hears the truth."

Ruby noticed the moment that Emma's resolve crumbled and she dashed straight for her friend's bedroom. "We have to pack quickly. Our flight is leaving in a few hours."

* * *

Ruby was a woman on a mission the moment their flight landed in Vegas. She'd never been before and she was certainly intending to make the most of her weekend there, even if everything went badly for Emma.

Ruby would never speak it aloud, but she had a feeling this weekend was going to be a good one for her best friend.

The two women spent their first night in Vegas enjoying the sights that the strip had to offer, before heading to a show that Ruby had booked for them.

The next morning, Emma was a ball of nerves as she made her way to the convention hotel to register for the weekend. She knew Killian had hinted that she'd be okay to attend the event, but she couldn't shake the feeling that the moment she gave them her name, she'd be escorted from the building.

Thankfully, both she and Ruby were able to collect everything without any issues, and Emma's heart rate calmed a little.

Until Ruby handed her three photo op vouchers.

"No. No way," Emma protested. "There's no way I'm doing three with him. He _hates_ me."

"He doesn't hate you," Ruby sighed. "You need time, Emma. You need longer than thirty seconds to ask him to listen to you. Just take them, okay. If you don't wanna use them it's your call. But if it were me, I'd man up and use that time to ask him for a second chance."

Emma said nothing but she did stuff the tickets into her purse, instead of trying to hand them back, so Ruby took that as a small victory.

"Right, do you wanna stay for today's stuff or do you wanna go and get drunk?" she asked, clapping her hands together.

Emma really wanted to stay. The fangirl inside of her loved every aspect of the conventions, and she wanted to be present for it. But there was also a huge part of herself that felt like an invader at that moment.

"Let's stay," Ruby offered, taking the decision out of Emma's hands. "We can get drunk after."

* * *

The next morning, Emma felt sick. And it wasn't from all of the rum she'd downed the night before. Ruby had splashed out on gold tickets for the two of them, so she knew that Killian would be the first person they would see.

"I don't think I can do this," she complained, as Ruby finished drying her hair. "This was a _huge_ mistake."

"Nonsense," Ruby chided, pushing a garment bag at her friend. "Now get dressed or we're going to be late."

Emma let out a huff but Ruby's expression left no room for argument. So, Emma sucked it up and headed into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day ahead.

"Are you serious about this?" she complained, as she left the room. Ruby had picked out a navy blue dress, matching tights, and a pair of grey boots for her friend for the day.

"For the love of God, Emma, if you don't stop complaining I'm going to knock you unconscious and drag you there," Ruby threatened. "I'm trying to help you win his heart. You need to stand out. Now take your hair down."

Emma did as Ruby asked, and allowed her friend to mess around with it for a while, before Ruby finally declared that she looked perfect.

"Let's go," she ordered, pulling open the door to their room to let Emma leave first. Ruby wasn't taking any chances.

* * *

Emma was beginning to sweat when the two girls settled into their seats in the hall. Ruby had picked the two that were front row, dead center, and Emma wanted to strangle her for it. Her legs bounced restlessly, her eyes scanning the room for possible exits, as everyone else took their own seats.

"Sit still," Ruby hissed. "You're just making it worse."

"How?" Emma asked, a little hysterically. "How could things possibly get any worse right now?"

Ruby didn't reply, well aware that the space around them was beginning to fill and the last thing she wanted to do was give anyone else gossip material to run with. Instead she reached over for her friend's hand and gave it a tight, reassuring squeeze.

It didn't help much.

When the MC finally took to the stage, Emma felt physically sick. She'd never been more nervous in her entire life. She'd never dreaded hearing the words, "Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Killian Jones," so much before. But the instant they left his mouth, Emma wanted nothing more than for a huge hole to open up underneath her, and swallow her.

Killian took to the stage under a riotous applause from the rest of the fans gathered in the room and Emma squeezed Ruby's hand a little tighter. He looked tired, she thought, as he slipped off his jacket before taking his seat.

When his eyes swept the room, Emma felt her heart lurch in her chest. They landed on her briefly, before quickly moving on and the lack of emotion on Killian's face had her choking back a sob.

It was like he'd completely looked though her.

"Oh, Ems," Ruby sighed, wrapping her arm around her friend and pulling Emma into her side. She went willingly but did her best to keep the tears from falling. The last thing she needed was the people around her complaining that she was an overly emotional fangirl.

* * *

 **Emma's convention look is based on Jen's from a promotional shoot for Gordon Ramsay's Everyday Kitchenware for Walmart from 2013.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	13. Chapter 13

**I seem to be having no luck at the moment, as I was rushed back to hospital for some more emergency surgery. But now that the pain meds are not needed as much I'm finding myself with plenty of time to edit and write.**

* * *

Emma barely heard a word of Killian's panel that morning. To keep her emotions in check, she shut down. She didn't even bother to lift her eyes from her lap, and Ruby had to admit, the day was going nothing like she'd planned at all.

When Killian left, Emma bolted for the door, moving faster than she ever had before. Ruby had to jog to catch up to her friend and when she did, it was to find her hurling into a trash can outside of the hotel.

"I'm sorry, Emma," she soothed, pulling her friend's hair back, out of the way, and rubbing her back gently.

"I told you this was a bad idea," Emma mumbled, when she'd finally emptied her stomach. "He hates me. I shouldn't be here. I'm just going to ruin his weekend, which will ruin everyone else's weekend."

"Maybe if you speak to him during the photo ops…"

"I'm not doing the fucking ops," Emma yelled, her voice rising with her anger. "I'm done, Ruby. I'm just so fucking done."

Ruby wasn't really sure what to say. She'd never seen her friend this way before.

"Let's get you into the bar," she offered, when Emma began to shiver slightly.

"I'm going back to the hotel," Emma stated, tearing her badge over her head and throwing both it, and all of the convention documentation, into the trash can she'd just made use of. "I just… I wanna be alone for a while."

Ruby bit back her own tears and nodded to show she'd heard her friend, as she watched Emma turn and walk back in the direction of their hotel.

When she turned the corner, out of sight, Ruby cringed slightly before plunging her hand into the trash can to fish out the tickets Emma had thrown away.

* * *

While Emma cried herself to sleep, back in the hotel room, Ruby decided it was time to take some action. She waited patiently for the start of Killian's photo session, and downed a couple of shots of tequila in the bar to help boost her courage.

Much like Emma had done in the past, she managed to wait out the call long enough to make sure she was the last person in Killian's line. It wasn't easy though. Whoever was in front of her kept finding excuses to leave and return, insisting that she didn't want to slip back into her place in the queue.

Thankfully, Ruby was much more intelligent than she was, and as soon as she entered the room that the photo ops were taking part in, she put her plan into action.

"Ooops. I left my tickets with my friend," she lied, slipping back out and heading down the hall. "I'll be right back."

She lingered round the corner for exactly three minutes, before heading back at a light jog, waving the tickets in the face of the volunteer on the door.

"Got them," she cheered, a little too happy with herself.

She watched on as everyone else in the room took their pictures with Killian, the man himself looking a little stiffer than she'd seen him at the previous convention. The woman before her seemed to go into full-on meltdown-mode after her picture was taken, gushing to him about how much he'd changed her life and how she was his biggest fan.

Ruby had always been a little cynical, so she couldn't help but roll her eyes at the staged dramatics. She did, however, almost feel sorry for the poor guy, who looked clearly uncomfortable with the situation.

Almost.

He had made her friend cry, after all.

When it was her time, Ruby straightened her shoulders and handed over all of her photo op vouchers.

Killian greeted her with a soft, "Hi," to which she replied, "I wanna talk about my friend, Emma Swan."

* * *

Emma wasn't sure how long she'd been sleeping for when she was woken by a knock at the door.

"Go away," she called out, thinking it was housekeeping.

The knocking got louder.

"GO AWAY," she yelled again.

There was a moment of silence before the knocking started over, more persistent this time.

Emma hauled herself off the bed, running her fingers through her hair to detangle it a little, before she wrenched open the door, ready to give whoever it was on the other side a piece of her mind. "What part of go away don't you understand?" she snapped.

The figure in front of her turned slowly, and Emma's jaw dropped.

"Your friend said you had something to tell me."

"I… um… what?" she asked, all eloquence leaving her.

"Your friend. The feisty brunette. She said you had something to say to me." His face was just as cold and emotionless as it had been the last time they'd spoken, and Emma's heart broke a little more.

"Why do you care?" she asked, blinking back the tears that were already forming.

"You missed the photo ops," he replied softly, looking down at his feet.

"Well, you made it clear you didn't want me here," she countered.

"And yet… you still came."

"Yeah, well… blame Ruby for that," Emma muttered, petulantly.

Neither of them said anything for the longest of moments. Emma wasn't sure what to say that would make anything better, and she had no idea why he'd suddenly shown up at her door.

"This was a waste of time," Killian mumbled, turning on his heels.

"Wait," she called out, her mouth opening before her brain had time to catch up. "He's gone."

"Who?" Killian asked, cocking his head to hear her better but not yet ready to turn around and face her.

"Neal. My fiancée. My ex," she corrected. "He's gone. I kicked him out."

"Why should I care?" Killian scoffed.

"I don't know," Emma replied softly. "I just…. I just wanted you to know that I didn't set out to hurt you. I wasn't trying to trick you. Things just sort of happened and I lost control."

"You never wore a ring."

Emma was momentarily confused by the statement. What on earth did jewelry have to do with anything?

Then it clicked.

"He never gave me one. He didn't work. He couldn't afford an engagement ring. You know that old saying that you should spend two month's wages on an engagement ring? Well, two months of nothing is nothing," she laughed bitterly.

"So you didn't take it off around me?" he asked, finally turning back to face her.

"God, no. I never had one to begin with. I _never_ set out to trick you," she reiterated. "I didn't even expect any of _this_ to happen. And once it did, I knew telling you about him would stop it. I didn't want that either."

"What did you want?"

"You," she confessed quietly. "I wanted you. I _still_ want you. I didn't know how much I wanted you until you kissed me that night."

Emma couldn't bring herself to look at Killian after her confession, so instead she chose to look down at her feet. She really wished she'd had the time to slip on her boots before answering the door.

"You look pretty today," Killian complimented, his hand coming out to twist a piece of her hair around his finger.

Emma looked up at his words, trying not to move her head too much so he wouldn't stop touching her. "Ruby made me wear it," she shrugged. "You look great. You always look great. I mean, you kinda look a little tired, but you still look _amazing_ ," she rambled.

Killian chuckled a little at her words before slipping his fingers under her chin to tilt her head up.

Emma pulled away quickly when she realised just how close they were standing.

"Please tell me you don't have another secret to confess," he gritted out at her sudden movement.

"I vomited earlier today," she replied. "I haven't brushed my teeth yet."

She watched as the tension quickly drained from Killian's shoulders.

"Go brush your teeth," he told her, indicating to the open doorway with a nod of his head.

"You'll still be here when I've finished?" she asked.

"I was planning to wait _inside_ the room," Killian teased, "but I can wait here if you'd rather."

Emma didn't really think before she grabbed a fistful of the front of his shirt to haul him into the hotel room.

* * *

When she left the bathroom, having brushed both her teeth, and her hair, she found Killian perched in the corner of the sofa, flicking through the television channels mindlessly. She made her way round to the other side before sitting down cautiously.

He might have given her hope to fix their relationship, but she also knew they had a lot to talk about.

"Will you tell me about him?" Killian asked. "I mean, you were engaged to him, right? So why leave him?"

The answer ' _he's not you'_ was on the tip of Emma's tongue, but she knew that wasn't what Killian wanted to hear. He'd made it perfectly clear before that he didn't want to be _that_ guy.

"I told him that I'd kissed another man," she said, her hands fiddling with the ring Ruby had given her instructions to wear that morning on her right index finger. "I couldn't not tell him. I didn't want to be _that_ girl either. I didn't want to be a cheater and I was already lying to him about where I was going. I didn't want to lie to him about this too." She took a moment to clear her head before she carried on. "He didn't care," she laughed bitterly. "Told me that we all make mistakes and it didn't matter. So, I asked him how many mistakes he'd made before in our relationship."

"I'm sorry, Emma," Killian offered, shifting a little closer to her on the sofa.

"Apparently he's well known for it in town. But nobody thought I'd ever have the balls to kick him out."

"Why did you?"

"I told him I'd been coming to conventions to see you. He told me there was no way in hell someone like you would ever be interested in me. Guess he just struck a nerve."

Emma felt the sofa dip a little as Killian shifted closer, his hands coming up to tilt her face up until her eyes met his. "He was wrong," Killian stated. "I can't stop thinking about you. Even when I wanted to forget you, I couldn't." He leaned in slowly and Emma thought he was going to kiss her, but Killian stopped just short of it, before pulling back once more. "I'm not _this_ guy either, Emma. I'm not the kind of guy who thinks it's cool to fuck his fans and leave them high and dry after. I don't _do_ that. So, if _this_ , whatever _this_ is between us, is going to happen, I need you to be honest with me."

"I will," she promised quickly. "I was just scared."

"And you think I'm not?" he asked, cocking a brow at her. "Do you know how many horror stories agents will tell you about dating fans when you make it in the industry?"

"I'm sure everyone says this, but I'm not one of those crazy fangirls… I swear." Emma cringed a little at the look on Killian's face. "I mean, I know most people don't spend thousands to meet their idols, but I don't know where you live or anything crazy like that."

"Good to know," Killian laughed lightly.

"I um…" Emma hesitated for a moment before continuing with, "I haven't seen the show since the weekend before the last convention."

Killian looked up, surprised by Emma's confession.

"It kinda hurt too much to see you kissing another woman after you'd just kicked me out of your life."

"Sorry I was so hard on you," he apologised, bringing his hand up to cover Emma's. "I just… I assumed that maybe you'd been playing me the entire time and I didn't want to wake up the next morning and find all these trashy stories about me all over the internet."

"I would never do that," she protested. "I wasn't even gonna tell Ruby about us, but she saw you looking at me in the restaurant at our first convention and just wouldn't drop the subject."

"It's fine," Killian reassured her. "You can tell your friends, Emma. I'm not ashamed of you. I just… I liked you. The idea of reading about how I thought you'd betrayed me, stung. So, I lashed out at you. And I won't ever be able to apoloigse enough for that."

"You already have," she told him, smiling for the first time in what felt like months.

"Then maybe we should start again?" Killian offered. "With complete honesty, this time."

"I'd like that."

* * *

When Ruby returned to the room later that evening, it was to find her best friend fast asleep on the small sofa in their room, curled into Killian Jones' side.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **I'm finally caught up on replies now so I wanted to say thanks to erikalynnbowman, Pixiepaws1, CaptainSwan, Luna, KellenB and all the guest reviews who I could not personally reply to.**

 **If I missed anyone's review, feel free to hit me up for you next teaser.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you for all of your well wishes.**

* * *

"You're serious? That's all that happened?" Ruby asked, her eyes trained on Emma's back as she bent over the sink to rinse out her mouth.

"Yes. Did it look like we'd been having hot sex everywhere?" Emma threw over her shoulder. "I hurt him. I need to earn his trust back before we even think about getting naked together."

"Well, you looked pretty cozy when I saw you," was all Ruby had to add, as she watched her friend finish getting ready for the day. When she'd woken that morning, Emma was in the bed next to hers and there was no sign of Killian Jones.

"Does this look okay?" Emma asked, gesturing down her body. "I feel like I need new clothes."

"You know I always love an excuse to shop." Ruby smiled wickedly, "But you look fine. I have a feeling you could wear a bedsheet and he'd still think you were the most beautiful woman in the world."

Emma didn't look convinced, but she didn't change either, which Ruby took as a sign of progress. She'd chosen a pair of black jeans, a simple white shirt, knee-high black boots, and a blue military jacket for the day. It was casual and comfortable, but she hoped Killian would like the combination.

"What do we have today?" Ruby asked, moving to take her own turn in the bathroom.

"Autographs," Emma called back. "I wish I hadn't wasted those photo ops yesterday."

"Doesn't he have any today?"

"Nah. Just joint ones and those sell out fast," she replied. "At least I have plenty from the other cons to keep me going."

Ruby chuckled as she left the room, wiping a hand over her face. "You're an addict, Ems."

* * *

Emma had to admit, she was feeling much lighter that morning when she entered the hotel for the convention. She and Killian had spent much of the previous evening just talking. He needed to be able to trust her again, so they'd taken some time to get to know each other away from what the internet said about him. And while she hadn't divulged everything about herself, she suspected Killian had held back a little too.

The girls stopped at the coffee bar for a quick snack and a drink, before the two of them made their way to their seats in the hall. But Emma's stomach dropped when she saw the message on screen waiting for her.

 **Could ticket holder**

 **Gold Row 8 Seat 5**

 **Please report to Sarah at the ticket exchange desk**

"Shit, what do you think that's about?" Ruby asked looking between Emma and the message on screen.

"No idea," she replied.

"Do you want me to come with you?" Ruby was a little concerned about the alarming shade of white her best friend had just turned.

"No. I'll be fine," Emma assured her. "I'm sure it's nothing."

She made her way to the exchange desk on shaking legs, worried the entire time that Killian had somehow had a change of heart and decided to kick her out of the convention anyway.

She thought they'd parted on good terms.

Killian had woken her in the early hours of the morning with a gentle shake and a soft kiss to the forehead, before explaining that he had to leave. He'd left her with a promise to see her later that day.

 _But maybe with time away, he'd changed his mind?_

"Hi, I think you're looking for me?" Emma asked at the desk, holding up her badge for the woman behind it to see.

"Oh yes," she exclaimed. "This was left for you this morning."

Emma took the envelope being held out to her with trembling hands. Apparently, the woman behind the desk assumed her job was done, as she turned straight back to the laptop in front of her, and Emma walked away feeling even more confused. She made her way back to her seat with the envelope clutched tightly between her shaking hands, too nervous to open it without Ruby there for moral support.

"What happened?" she asked, as soon as Emma was in her line of sight.

"They gave me this." Emma held up the envelope by way of explanation.

"And? What's in it?"

"I don't know," she answered honestly. "I was too scared to look."

"Well open it, Silly. Maybe you won something?"

"I didn't enter anything," Emma deadpanned.

She slid her finger into the side and gently eased open the envelope to see what was inside. It appeared to be a sheet of paper so she unfolded it gently to see what had been written on it.

"Holy shit," Ruby exclaimed, but Emma was far too distracted by the familiar script that had been written over the page.

 _Emma,_

 _I'm sorry you felt the need to miss the photo session yesterday afternoon. I know this is not quite the same, but I hope it makes up for what you lost._

 _See you soon._

 _Yours,_

 _Killian._

"Well?" Ruby demanded after Emma had been silent for too long.

"It's from Killian," Emma whispered, making sure she kept her voice as low as possible. "But I don't know what he means."

Ruby took the note from Emma and scanned it briefly before she replied. "I do." She held out the three strips of bright coloured card that Emma hadn't seen fall out of the envelope when she opened it. "He brought you three of his duo photo ops," she explained, handing them over.

Sure enough, the tickets were for three photos with Killian and his best friend, both on and off-screen, Robin Locksley.

"You definitely won," Ruby sighed, slouching back in her seat as she watched Emma tuck the vouchers away safely.

"I told you, I didn't enter anything."

"Oh, you did. It's called Boyfriend Lottery," Ruby joked, before she turned around in her seat to watch the MC make his way onto stage.

Emma pulled out her phone while the MC did his bit to warm up the crowd and hesitated for a moment, before trying Killian's name in her messenger app. She was relieved to see that he'd apparently unblocked her since he'd left that morning, so she fired off a quick message to him.

 _Thank you for the photo op vouchers._

 _They were unnecessary, though._

 **They were more for me than you ;-)**

 **See you soon.**

* * *

"So, when are those photo ops?" Ruby asked, as they left the autograph room for the first time. Emma had managed to add a few names to her poster, and Ruby had started filling the boxset she'd purchased with signatures.

"In an hour," she replied. "I don't think I can face the thought of lunch."

"Then we can skip it and head to the bar."

Emma laughed a little at Ruby's bluntness but allowed her friend to guide her down to an empty chair before she headed to the bar.

Unfortunately, Ruby's plan to get Emma a little drunk before the photo ops to give her some confidence didn't work and Emma was more nervous than she had ever been before. Thankfully, Ruby had agreed to share one of the photo ops with her, so at least she had some kind of moral support.

As the line crept slowly forward, Emma did her best to keep her mind off the night before and think of something creative to do with Robin and Killian.

But she was drawing a blank.

When she finally made it into the room, her eyes were immediately drawn to Killian. He seemed much more relaxed with Robin by his side, the two of them sharing a laugh between photos. She watched as each attendee in front of her took their place between the boys for a hug, before leaving the room looking slightly dazed.

"So, I guess I get Robin while you take Killian?" Ruby teased, as they made their way closer to the two men in the center of the room.

"You don't mind, do you?" Emma asked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Of course not," Ruby scoffed. "Robin's kinda hot too. And I got like four with Killian yesterday when I told him to come see you."

"You did?" Emma asked, her head swiveling round to face her friend.

"How else do you think I passed all that information along?" Ruby scoffed. "They're shit photos, though. I should demand a refund."

Emma didn't have time to ask any more questions as they were being pushed in the direction of Killian and Robin. She was pleased to see that Killian's face brightened when he caught sight of her.

"Emma," he greeted, not waiting for either of the girls to say what they wanted before he pulled her in to a hug. Emma had no idea what Ruby and Robin were doing behind her. Every part of her body was focused on the way Killian had his pressed against her, his head resting on top of her own. "You look beautiful," he whispered, just loud enough for her to hear before the first click of the camera.

She blushed and muttered her thanks, as Ruby excused herself for the second shot.

"Group hug?" Robin asked, throwing an odd look at his friend over the top of the pretty blonde's head.

"Please," Emma replied, allowing Killian to move her in to a position between the two of them. She angled her body slightly so it was turned more towards him, and didn't miss the way he seemed to be pulling her as far out of Robin's reach as he could, without making the photo awkward.

When the camera flashed once more, Emma blinked away the bright spots as Killian asked, "Any ideas for the third?"

"None at all," she replied honestly.

"Good job I have one." Killian didn't wait for a reply from Emma. He simply swept her up and into his arms, leaving Robin to look at the two of them with genuine confusion.

When the third picture had been taken she gave Robin a small smile of thanks before Killian squeezed her once and released her to welcome the next person.

* * *

Emma barely had time to relax after the photo ops before she and Ruby were taking their places back in the hall for Killian's final panel of the weekend.

"Thanks for talking me into this," she told Ruby as they made themselves comfortable.

"Well, I had considered driving to Vancouver to kick his ass but this seemed like a better idea. Plus… Vegas," she explained. "Which reminds me, we need to do _something_ tonight. It's Vegas. We can't spend it sat in a hotel room."

Emma really wanted to spend her night with Killian. She was hoping he'd stop by again after the convention was over. But she couldn't find it in her heart to deny Ruby's request after everything that she'd done that weekend.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

The hall around them fell silent as the MC took to the stage, and Emma shuffled forward a little in her seat. Ruby chuckled but didn't say anything else. It was nice to see her friend smiling again and if Killian Jones could make that happen, she wasn't going to complain.

The final panel followed much the same way as all of Killian's others had done that afternoon. Emma listened as he spoke about his favourite scene to shoot, who he enjoyed working with the most, and what he loved most about portraying Hook.

However, the penultimate question of the day caught her off guard when a young girl got up to ask, "Do you have a girlfriend, because my mommy's single?"

The crowd erupted into laugher and Emma watched as Kilian brought his hand up to scratch nervously behind his ear. His eyes flicked down to meet hers briefly in the audience before turning back to the small girl at the side, who was dressed as Cinderella.

"Um…" he hesitated. "I don't," he began and Emma felt her heart sink a little. "But there is someone I met recently who I think could be my girlfriend very soon."

The little girls' face dropped before she turned back to her mommy and declared, "Sorry Mom, he's taken."

The room once more erupted into laugher, which helped to hide Killian's blush, as his eyes darted back to Emma once more before settling on the person who would be asking the final question of the day.

* * *

"So, girlfriend material, huh?" Ruby teased, as they joined the queue for Killian's autograph session.

"Shush," Emma chided. "It's not like we've talked about it at length."

"Maybe you should," she suggested. "Doesn't hurt to be on the same page."

Emma threw her friend a dirty look. "One success in the relationship world does not make you an ultimate match-maker, you know?"

"It does when my success is _this_ big," she gloated.

The girls waited patiently in line, trading plans for the night ahead and banter while they waited for their autograph. This time, Ruby pushed Emma ahead of her when they were at the beginning of the queue.

"Hey, Emma," Killian greeted, as she slid down one of their photo ops for him to sign. He raised a simple brow at her and she sighed, digging through her bag to pull out her folder and the remaining photo ops. "So, any plans for tonight?" he asked, as he bent his head to sign the picture of her sandwiched between Robin and Killian.

"We're gonna go out tonight, I think," she answered carefully.

Killian's head shot up, his hand pausing to look at her. "Anywhere in particular?"

"I think Ruby just wants to make the most of being in Vegas for the night. I don't really care. I'd rather be curled up with _Friends_ reruns," she explained, watching as Killian's expression softened and he went back to finishing his inscription.

When he'd finished with the first, he slid it over to her quickly before taking the next. "When do you leave?" he asked casually, aware that the person sat beside him was listening to every word he spoke.

"Monday afternoon," Emma replied. "Have to get back to work."

"I know the feeling," he chuckled, handing her last photo op back to her. "Thanks for coming, Emma."

Emma forgot to wait for Ruby as she made her way out of the room, browsing the inscriptions on her pictures. The one she'd shared with Ruby was simple enough. Kilian had signed the space above the two of them and simply written;

 _Sweet Emma,_

 _I missed your hugs,_

 _Killian Jones._

The second one, of herself in Killian's arms, with a confused Robin watching on read;

 _Emma,_

 _How I would love to whisk you off your feet some day…_

 _Killian Jones._

The final message, however, gave her reason to pause. She could see now why he'd passed it back so quickly. The message simply read;

 _Sweetheart,_

 _I'm here until Monday afternoon._

 _Call me._

 _00 353 (86) 079 3000_

 _Killian Jones._

* * *

 **Please note the author does not advocate asking to be lifted in photo ops - but if they lift you by all means enjoy every moment of it!**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you for your patience with these updates.**

* * *

"Don't wait for me," Ruby called out, jogging to catch up with Emma. "I'm fine back here, by myself."

Emma was too lost in the numbers printed across her photo op to hear a word her friend was saying.

"Hey. Earth to Emma," Ruby called out, waving a hand between Emma's face and the photo she was staring at. "Did he write something filthy?" she asked, looking down at it.

"He gave me his number," Emma mumbled, making sure the people around them couldn't hear her.

"He did what?" Ruby shrieked.

"He gave me his number," Emma replied, a little harder, her tone conveying that she needed her best friend to keep it down. "Should I message him or something?"

"Hell yes!" Emma shot Ruby a disbelieving look. "I know, normally I'd tell you to make him sweat it out for a while and then call him. But this is different, Emma. You guys have done enough sweating recently. Send him a message. _Oh,_ see if he wants to join us tonight for dinner?"

Emma wasn't sure who was more excited about this development – herself or Ruby.

But she did as her friend advised, typing out a simple,

 _Hi,_

 _Just wanted to send you a message so you had my number._

 _Emma._

The two girls had made their way back to the hotel room, and Ruby was already enjoying a relaxing shower, by the time Killian replied.

 **Thanks.**

 **Did you enjoy your weekend?**

 _It definitely got better towards the end of it._

 _You?_

 **I always enjoy spending time with you.**

There was a short pause where Emma wondered what to say in reply, before her phone vibrated in her hand once more.

 **So, what are you and Ruby planning to do tonight?**

 _I think we're starting with dinner._

Emma hesitated for another moment, wondering if it were too soon to ask him to join them, but decided in the end to suck it up and go for it. After all, he had given her his number.

 _Would you like to join us?_

 **I don't want to intrude.**

Emma squealed a little at his response.

"What? What is it?" Ruby asked, flinging open the bathroom door and peering round the room outside. "If it's a spider, call the front desk."

"It's not a spider," Emma hurried to reply, trying to school her features.

She needn't have bothered. Ruby knew what was going on the moment she spotted Emma's phone clutched tightly in her hand. "Texting Killian?" she asked.

"Just finish getting ready so I can shower," Emma sighed, watching as Ruby backed away and shut the door behind her once more.

 _You wouldn't be._

 _Ruby told me to invite you._

 **So… Ruby wants me there and you don't?**

 _Shit!_ She definitely could have worded that one better.

 _No I do._

 _I just wasn't sure you'd wanna come._

 **Do you know where you're going?**

 _Not a clue._

 _I think Ruby planned to just walk until we found somewhere that looked interesting._

 **I know somewhere that offers a little more privacy.**

 **I can pick you both up in ninety minutes?**

 _We'll be ready for you._

Emma wasn't even ashamed of the dreamy sigh that left her as she locked her phone and threw it down onto her bed.

Then the panic set in.

"Ruby!" she yelled, throwing herself off the bed to hammer on the bathroom door. "Get out. I need to shower."

"Alright, calm down," Ruby snapped, pulling the door open. "I'm almost done. What's gotten your panties in a twist."

"Killian's picking us up in an hour and a half and I need to shower and shave and pluck and moisturize and…. Oh God… I have _nothing_ to wear."

Ruby chuckled as she grabbed her own makeup bag off the counter and left the room.

"It's a good job I brought something for you when I was giving you space yesterday," she told her friend, pushing her in the direction of the bathroom. "Now go and do what you gotta do."

Emma quickly shut the door behind herself and Ruby heard the shower switch on, before her friend emerged once more, running over to her bag to grab her toiletries, before running back to the steaming water waiting for her.

* * *

"So?" Robin asked, rocking back on his heels as he tucked his hands into his jeans pockets.

"Gonna need a little more information to go on," Killian mumbled, pulling out his phone to check it quickly, before tucking it back away.

"The pretty blonde in the photo op room?"

"There were lots of pretty blonde's in the photo op room," he hedged, hoping like hell that Robin would let this drop if he played dumb.

"Yeah but you didn't happen to know those all by name."

"Oh, Emma?" Killian really hoped his face wasn't giving him away in that moment. "She's been to every event this year so far, it's hard not to know her by name."

"And that's the reason you barely let me touch her?"

"What are you trying to get at here?" Killian snapped.

Robin sighed as he took in the thunderous look on his friend's face. "Just… be careful, okay? You've heard the stories."

"What stories?" Killian asked, already knowing what point his friend was trying to make.

"The ones about sleeping with your fans. Don't let a pretty face ruin your career." Robin left to use the bathroom before Killian could think of anything else to say.

* * *

"Where the hell did you even get this?" Emma asked, looking down at the dress Ruby had forced her into, as her friend tried to zip it closed.

"Will you stop wiggling?" Ruby huffed. "I brought it Saturday, after I told Killian where to find you. How do you think I kept myself away from the hotel room all day?"

"I think this is too much," Emma complained once more. "I'm dressed for a date, not a night out with friends for dinner."

"You're dressed to impress, Emma. Killian is going to trip over his own tongue when he sees you. And that's what we want. Who knows when you guys will see each other again? So, we are going to leave him with an image he's not gonna forget in a hurry."

Emma didn't have time to protest any further as there was a sharp rap on their room door. Instead, she shot Ruby a death glare as her friend pushed her over to open it.

She'd been expecting to see Killian on the other side, but the sight of him still took her breath away. He'd shed his light jeans and grey sweater from earlier that day and instead chosen a pair of dark-wash jeans, a white dress shirt and a grey vest.

"Wow," he mumbled, his jaw dropping slightly and his hand coming up to scratch at it. "You um… you look…" Killian couldn't seem to keep his eyes from wandering.

They started at the top of Emma's head, taking in the messy braids that had been pulled together to form a messy ponytail. A design that on anyone else would look like they'd just rolled out of bed. She'd left a few tendrils of hair down to frame her face beautifully, and was wearing a pair of earrings that Ruby had loaned to her.

He paused to take in the high collar of her black dress, and the lace inserts on her collarbone that left her arms completely bare. But most of his focus stopped on the high hemline of the dress itself. There were two lace panels on either side, meeting in the middle at mid-thigh level, which gave him a perfect view of her stunning legs. Even the platform black heels she'd chosen for the night were making his mouth dry.

"I know. It's too much, right?" she sighed. "I _told_ Ruby that but she wouldn't listen."

"No, it's um… you look incredible, Emma."

"Really?" she asked, looking up at him. Killian could tell that she wasn't fishing for a compliment, like some girls did. She was genuinely worried that he wouldn't find her attractive.

"God yeah."

Emma's smile lit up her face, as she took a step back into the room. "I um, I just need to grab my bag and a jacket," she mumbled, before turning to go and fetch them both.

The groan that left Killian's mouth had her freezing in her tracks.

"Are you okay?" she asked, looking over her shoulder at him.

"Yeah, yeah I'm fine." Killian's voice was pitched much higher than usual so she quirked a brow in question. "That dress is just…. I mean… your back is…."

"He means you look beautiful," Ruby jumped in to rescue him, handing Emma her bag and jacket.

"You do," he rushed to agree.

Emma blushed under his praise but didn't say anything else. Instead, she followed Ruby out of the hotel room, listening to her friend try to make conversation with Killian. She was acutely aware of the fact that he had dropped his hand to her lower back, to guide her down the hall and into the elevator at the end of it. Given how low-cut the back of her dress was, his thumb kept brushing against the bare skin just above the zip of it. Emma was finding it hard to think with him touching her in such a way.

"So, how are you enjoying Vegas?" Ruby asked, as the elevator doors slid shut. Emma tried her hardest not to remember the previous times she and Killian had been alone in elevators.

"It's good," he mumbled distractedly. "Not that I can say I've spent much time exploring it."

"I had a few hours to kill yesterday," Ruby teased. "I've always wanted to come to Vegas. But I'm pretty sure I lost part of my life savings on a craps table."

"Ruby," Emma chided.

"What? I said part. I know when to quit… Eventually."

"You're never gonna move out of Granny's," Emma sighed, trying her hardest to keep her eyes off Killian and her mind off the way his hand had migrated up her back a little, now fully touching her bare skin.

"I know. It's a shame I don't have a friend with a spare room who I could move in with and help out with the rent."

Emma knew there was more to what Ruby was saying than her tone conveyed, but Killian had found a ticklish spot on her back, and she was trying her hardest not to squirm under his exploration and draw attention to them both.

"Ugh. I have no idea why I suggested this," Ruby mumbled. Apparently, they weren't as crafty as they thought they'd been. "I'm gonna be stuck watching you two eye-fuck each other all night."

"I can leave if it would make things easier?" Killian suggested. The last thing he wanted to do was come between the two girls.

"Nah, I'm only joking. Mainly," Ruby explained. "I'm happy for you both. Just don't start mentally undressing each other over the dinner table and we'll be fine."

Emma flushed bright red at her friend's words but said nothing as the elevator came to a stop, and Killian guided her out towards the parking garage.

* * *

 **Emma's look here is based upon Jen's look for the Allure Magazine's Look Better Naked Issue party 11th April 2013.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Sorry this one took so long coming. I lost count of the number of times I deleted the document before starting over. I just hope this was worth the wait.**

* * *

Ruby came to the conclusion, quite quickly, that it had been a bad idea to suggest that Killian join them for dinner that evening.

While both he and Emma had done their best to make sure she didn't feel like an outsider, their obvious affection for each other made it clear to anyone who saw them that Ruby was crashing what should have been a date for the two of them.

Killian had driven the girls to a small restaurant he'd found, a little way off The Strip. It was quieter and darker than any of the places Ruby had stumbled over, on her walk the day before. But that was more likely due to the extortionate pricing on their menu. Like the complete gentleman Emma had always sworn he was, Killian had encouraged both girls to order anything they wanted, and then paid for everything, not even batting an eyelash when the bill was handed over. Ruby felt bad knowing the guy had paid over two hundred dollars just for her to eat, what was arguably the best chicken of her life, and drink some fantastically out of her price-range wine.

The conversation itself felt a little awkward at times. Ruby's heart broke for her friend as she sat through banal discussions about the weather, the quality of the food, and their flight out to Vegas. It was obvious to her that Emma and Killian still didn't fully understand where they stood, relationship-wise, and that they _needed_ more time together.

 _Alone._

So, being the wonderful friend that she was, Ruby escaped to the bathroom to perform a quick Google search, just as they were getting ready to leave the restaurant. When she returned, it was to find Emma wrapped up in her jacket, stood much closer to Killian than she probably realized, as the two of them spoke quietly together. Killian had his hand resting lightly on her friend's hip, and looked like he wasn't in a hurry to remove it anytime soon.

She cleared her throat gently to get their attention, and smiled as Killian pulled himself away from Emma with a start, before holding out Ruby's own jacket for her to slip into.

"Do you ladies have any other plans for the evening?" he asked, as Ruby fixed her hair and buttoned her coat.

"Apparently, there's a jazz club not far from here," she suggested. "You love Jazz music, Emma."

"You do?" Killian asked, turning his full attention back to Emma. Not that Ruby suspected it would have taken him long to do so anyway.

"I like all kinds of music," she replied, shrugging off his attention.

"You guys should go and check it out," Ruby encouraged.

"Wait, what?" Emma pulled away from Killian slightly, to move closer to her friend. "You don't wanna come with us?" she asked, hurt coloring her tone.

"I'm a little tired," Ruby lied. "Besides, you guys need some time together without me." When Emma opened her mouth to protest, Ruby hurried on to assure her, "It's okay, Emma. I don't mind. You'd do the same for me."

Emma looked to Killian, clearly torn over the idea. But the way she was already gravitating back towards him told Ruby she'd made the right choice.

"I'm gonna go grab a taxi," she stated firmly. "You two have fun."

Emma pulled her in for a tight hug before she could turn to leave. "Thank you," she whispered into Ruby's hair. "You're a good friend."

"I'm the _best_ friend," Ruby chuckled, before pulling back and waving her final goodbye to Killian.

Emma watched her go, feeling awful that her friend would be spending part of her night alone. But deep down, she knew Ruby was right. She and Killian needed time alone, to rebuild their relationship.

"Are you okay?" Killian asked, picking up on her hesitance.

Emma turned back to face him, her face breaking out into the most breathtaking of smiles as she realized that she was now _actually_ on a date with Killian Jones. Something she'd only ever dreamed of before. "Yeah," she assured him. "I'm good."

* * *

Ruby hadn't left instructions on how to get to this jazz club she'd found, but a brief chat with their host quickly had them pointed in the right direction. As it wasn't far from the restaurant, Killian had suggested walking, and Emma was happy to do so, given the warm air of the Las Vegas night.

He seemed to hesitate, for just a moment, when they stepped outside of the restaurant, before taking Emma's hand into his own and lacing their fingers together.

"So, tell me more about your musical passions?" he asked, as they made their way down the street.

Emma giggled a little as she thought back to Ruby's earlier statement. "I think what Ruby _really_ meant was that I listen to lots of different kinds of music that she deems crap."

"Oh, it can't be that bad."

"Three words," Emma teased, "Nineties. Brit. Pop."

Killian let out a laugh of his own at that one. "Okay, that is pretty bad. How did you stumble across nineties Brit pop?"

"Um…" She paused briefly before deciding that she should trust Killian with the truth. "When you're in the foster system you're not exactly top of the tree for the best stuff. You learn pretty quickly to make the most of what little you get."

Killian tugged gently on the hand that he was holding and Emma turned to face him. "I'm so sorry you grew up like that." He looked like he wanted to reach out for her, but stopped himself from doing so.

Emma bit back a sigh as she realized that it was her own fault he was holding so much back. "It's okay. Builds character, I guess."

Killian didn't look like he agreed, but he didn't push, either. He was starting to realize that Emma's past had been a big influence on the person she was now. And that the more she opened up to him, the more he understood her and what had happened between the two of them.

* * *

Getting into the jazz club was easier than Emma thought it would be, and Killian quickly guided her down into a small booth, before heading to the bar to grab them each a drink.

Emma shimmied out of her jacket, resting it over the back of her seat, before she sat down and cast a look around the room. Ruby had been on to another winning idea with this plan. While Emma had to admit that she enjoyed the occasional piece of jazz music, spending the night at a jazz club was not her idea of the perfect date. However, looking around the room, she realized that not only was it a location where Killian was unlikely to be recognized, but it was also kind of romantic. The lighting was low; with small candles on each table, and fairylights strung across the room. There was more focus on the stage, that had been set for the night ahead, but even that wasn't lit brightly. The speakers were playing pre-recorded jazz music, at a low level, and the rest of the patrons seemed to be whispering their conversation over glasses of whiskey and rum. The whole building had a buzz about it, and she found herself looking forward to the performances that would come.

"I went for Jack and Coke, I hope that's okay?" Killian asked, jerking Emma away from her thoughts.

"Perfect, thank you. I tend to drink most stuff so you can't really go wrong. Unless it's tequila," she added as an afterthought. "Tequila and I do not get along."

"That sounds like a story I need to hear." Killian made himself comfortable next to Emma in the booth, turning himself to face her, and his body away from the stage. He was so close that the fabric of his pants was brushing against Emma's left knee every time she moved.

"It has a messy ending," she warned, turning in her own seat. "There's this one guy in town, Leroy. He's harmless, but he loves a good drink - which usually results in him making my job more complicated. Anyway, on this particular day, I'd had to go and breakup a bar fight he started at The Rabbit Hole. He managed to land a few punches while I was doing so." At Killian's alarmed look Emma hurried on to clarify, "I've had worse. It was nothing really. And he apologized severely for it when he sobered up. But it made a crap day even crapper."

She hesitated for a long moment, taking a sip from her drink to stall, while she wondered if she should add the next part of the story. Emma wasn't sure how Killian would react, but she'd promised to be truthful with him. Withholding information so soon would surely only lead to more complications down the line.

"Neal was involved in the fight," she told him, staring down at the hem of her dress. "It was… _humiliating._ The Sherriff's fiancé being involved in a fight _she_ had to put a stop to. I had to put him in a cell for the night to calm down, and he was so angry about it. When I locked up, I didn't really feel like going home to an empty apartment. So, Ruby suggested spending the night at Granny's B&B with her. She borrowed a bottle of Granny's best tequila, to help me 'drown my sorrows.' Let's just say that by the end of the night, the tacos we'd stuffed ourselves with were making a reappearance."

Killian laughed at the look on Emma's face as she remembered that night spent on Granny's bathroom floor. "I'll remember to keep it away from you," he assured her.

She searched his face for some hint of his reaction to Neal's name. But all Emma could see was the humor shining in Killian's eyes. She was about to make a follow-up comment of her own, when the host of the club took to the stage to introduce the first act for the evening.

Killian shifted in his seat, reluctantly turning back round to face the stage, and watched from the corner of his eye as Emma did the same, moving to sit stiffly on the edge of her seat. He allowed his free arm to drape across the back of their booth, his hand resting just out of reach of Emma's hair.

Killian waited until the first act were on stage before sliding a little closer to her, to lean in and whisper, "We've been closer than this in photo ops, you know?"

Emma turned suddenly, startled at how close he sounded. "Sorry," she chuckled, her heart racing in her chest. Although she wasn't quite sure if it was a result of being startled or how close he was to her. She could smell his cologne every time she breathed in, and it wasn't helping with her nerves. "I wasn't sure if you'd be comfortable with us being as close as we used to be."

Killian's eyes softened, and he reached out a gentle hand to tuck some of Emma's hair behind her ear, before allowing it to settle on her chin, tilting her face up to meet his eyes. "I want to be close to you, Emma. Never doubt that."

His eyes seemed to take a moment to search her face, for any sign of hesitance, before he leaned in slowly, giving Emma a chance to pull away should she want to. When his lips brushed over hers, Emma barely had a chance to respond before he was pulling back; a sweet smile crinkling his face in the most adorable way.

This time, when Killian turned back round to face the stage, Emma didn't hesitate to slide closer, allowing his arm to settle round her shoulders as they watched the show.

* * *

Emma found that she rather enjoyed her time at the jazz club.

Killian kept their drinks flowing and ordered some snacks for the two of them, when they became hungry. He asked about Storybrooke, and Emma's job, while answering as many of her own questions about his, that didn't give away spoilers for the rest of the season. But mostly, he continued to shower her with affection throughout the evening. Every small gesture he made, from pulling her in closer to whisper their conversation while the acts were on stage, to the way his fingers would dance over the bare flesh of her shoulders and knees, in time to the music, had Emma enjoying her night more and more.

Being with Killian was easy in every way that being with Neal hadn't been. She didn't need to draw attention to herself, in order to attract his own. She didn't need to instigate contact, for Killian to brush sweet touches down her arms. And she didn't even need to speak the words for him to know when she was tired and ready to head back to her hotel. Killian simply stood, holding out a hand for Emma to take, to help her up, before helping her with her jacket.

"So… how did this impromptu first date go?" he asked, scratching nervously behind his right ear as the two of them left the club to head back to where he had parked his car, with Emma's right hand wrapped up tightly in his left.

"Best date I've ever had," she answered honestly.

"Really?" Killian looked so surprised that Emma couldn't help but laugh.

"To be fair, the bar was quite low," she joked. "But you've set an incredibly high benchmark for all future first dates."

Killian stopped mid-stride before turning to face Emma. "Do you plan on having any more first dates in the near future?"

Emma swallowed back the lump in her throat at the look of intensity that had suddenly taken over his face. "No." She shook her head to reinforce her point. "As long as there's maybe a chance of a second date. With you?"

Killian stepped forward suddenly, one hand holding tightly to Emma's left hip, as his other came up to cup her face, tilting it up towards him so that he could kiss her.

This kiss was nothing like the one he'd given her in the club. Instead of gentle sweetness, it was searing passion. A promise that there would most definitely be no need for any more first dates in Emma's immediate future.

She met his passion with her own, her lips and teeth tugging gently at his, as she remembered just how long it had been since the last time he'd kissed her that way. Killian groaned into it, pulling Emma into him tighter, so that every inch of her body was pressed against his, as he began to tease her with the very tip of his tongue. He _needed_ her, in a way that he'd never needed anyone else before. And the realization of that scared him slightly.

Emma was the first to pull away, her need for oxygen overriding the part of her brain that was screaming at her to never stop kissing him. Killian dropped his forehead down to rest against her own, taking deep breaths to try and calm himself, between sweet kisses he pressed into her neck.

"Do you um… Do you wanna come back to my hotel tonight?" he asked, a little breathlessly.

Emma's eyes fluttered shut at his words, as she allowed her mind to fill with images of what _that_ might look like. Hot, sweaty skin, sliding together. Desperate pants into the darkness. Fingers clutching each other tightly and they came together.

"I do," she told him, her voice shaking slight, as she reached up to brush her fingers through his hair. "You have no idea how much I do." She pulled back, but kept her fingers gently scratching along his scalp, hoping her actions would help to convey the meaning behind what she said next. "But I don't think I should."

Killian pulled back, making Emma's hands drop down to rest on his shoulders, as he frowned down at her.

"Do you trust me?" Emma asked, taking in the hurt he was trying to hide behind his eyes.

"I want to," he replied, after a long moment. "I _think_ I do."

She stepped in closer, bringing her hands back up to his face, to force his eyes to meet hers once more. "And that's why I shouldn't come back with you tonight. I want you to trust me, Killian. I want to earn your trust back. And I don't want us to rush into something we'll regret before then."

Killian nodded his understanding.

While his body was _screaming_ that she was _wrong_ and that he _needed_ her, at that very moment, his head was telling him that she was right. He turned his head to press a sweet kiss to her palm, before stepping back and lacing their fingers together between them.

"I'll see you tomorrow before you leave, right?"

"Yeah, you will," Emma assured him, leaning in once more to brush a chaste kiss to the corner of his mouth.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thanks for being patient with these updates.**

* * *

"So, let me see if I'm understanding this right," Ruby began, waving her toothbrush around wildly. "Killian Jones, arguably one of _the_ hottest men in the world, invited you back to his hotel room last night. For what would have most definitely been hours of hot sex. And you turned him down?"

Emma groaned into her pillow. She was really starting to wish she hadn't said anything.

"Yes, okay? I turned him down. But it was the right thing to do."

Ruby nodded her head but didn't look convinced. "You keep telling yourself that, Ems."

"Ugh. Why does he have to be _so_ fucking sexy?" Emma asked. "It makes doing the right thing _that_ much harder." She pulled herself up to a sitting position on the bed, before casting a look around the room she and Ruby were sharing. Thankfully, it wouldn't take them long to pack their things that morning, but the idea of checking out of the hotel, and returning to Storybrooke, was not one that she enjoyed.

While Ruby finished up in the bathroom, humming some kind of random tune to herself, Emma grabbed for her phone to check her messages. The one from Killian, that sat on her screen, had her smiling giddily to herself.

"Ruby?" she called out, waiting for her friend to stop humming before she continued, "You wanna grab some breakfast with Killian?"

Ruby poked her head around the bathroom doorframe to look over at Emma.

"I dunno. Do I?" she asked. Emma raised a brow in question and her friend continued, "If you guys are gonna be all smoochy and gross then I'll pass. I want food on my plate, not vomit."

"We're not gonna be all smoochy and gross." Emma seemed a little offended at the suggestion.

"Then count me in." Ruby disappeared again to finish whatever it was she was doing, before she yelled back, "But you're paying."

Emma fired off a quick message to Killian, before she hauled herself out of bed to get ready for the day, and finish packing her stuff.

* * *

"So, where are we meeting Killian?" Ruby asked. They'd checked out of their room a few moments before, and left their bags at the concierge desk, just in case Killian had decided to pick a restaurant miles away from the building.

"I have no idea," Emma replied, pulling out her phone to message him. She stopped in her tracks when she saw his message already waiting for her.

 **You look beautiful this morning, Sheriff.**

"Um… I think he's already here," she told Ruby, showing her friend the message on her screen.

"Ugh. You two are gonna be having eye-sex over the pancakes," she sighed, straightening up to look around the lobby of the hotel.

Emma threw her friend the dirtiest look she could muster, without any heat behind it, before tapping out a reply to Killian's message.

 _Thanks._

 _You do too._

 **You must be one hell of a sheriff.**

 **I was sure you hadn't spotted me yet.**

 _Oh, I haven't._

 _But you always look incredible._

"I think I just lost my appetite," Ruby groaned, reading over her friend's shoulder.

"That's a shame. I hear this place does an amazing eggs benedict," Killian threw out, startling both women as he approached them from behind.

Emma turned so quickly, Ruby reached for her arm, a little worried her friend might lose her balance.

"Wow. Okay. Yeah. I was right," she mumbled, her eyes moving up and down Killian's body. At his raised brow, she hurried on to clarify, "You look so fucking good. Like good enough to eat."

Ruby snorted from the left of her, and Killian did his best to smother his own chuckle.

"Thank you, Emma." He took a small step forward, bringing him within touching distance of her, and Ruby decided that was her cue to step back and avert her eyes. "Did you sleep well?" he asked, reaching out a hand to play with her hair.

"I did, thanks. Did you?" she asked, unconsciously stepping closer to him.

"It was a little restless."

Emma's heart quickened at the way Killian's eyes darkened. She knew exactly what he was trying to say.

Killian took a moment to appreciate the look of lust that filled her emerald-eyes, before he forced his own to soften. He moved his hand to brush the back of his fingers down her face, before leaning in to press a soft kiss to her lips.

"Soon," he promised, on a whisper, before straightening up and declaring, "Okay, I'm famished. Shall we go grab a table?"

"Yes please," Ruby chimed in, already heading for the hotel restaurant.

* * *

When the three of them were comfortably seated, with coffee in front of them, Ruby turned her attention to Killian.

"Are you not worried about being noticed here?" she asked. It was something that had been on her mind since she'd seen him in the lobby.

"Not really," Killian replied absentmindedly. "Most of the fans will have already left to return to work, and I can't say I'd be devastated if any of them caught me enjoying breakfast with two beautiful women. It's not like I have a wife at home I'm hiding from."

Emma choked on the mouthful of coffee she was trying to swallow and Killian's eyes widened in shock.

"Shit. I didn't mean that the way it came out," he offered, his hand hovering over her back, unsure of what he could do in that moment to help.

It took Emma a few minutes to stop coughing, and a little longer to make eye-contact with him again.

"It's okay," she offered. "I didn't take it personally."

The look on Killian's face said that he could clearly see that she had, and suddenly their pleasant atmosphere was gone.

"I'm gonna pop to the restroom," Ruby mumbled, practically running for the exit.

Kilian and Emma sat in an uncomfortable silence for the longest moment, before Emma let out a heavy sigh.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea," she mumbled, facing the table. She couldn't bear to face him just then.

"What do you mean?" Killian asked, his tone hardening.

"You just made a very common joke… and look what happened. Maybe this isn't going to work and we should just quit before one of us gets hurt too badly." Emma didn't add the unspoken belief that _she_ would be the one of them to end up hurting.

"Emma… look at me," Killian begged. He waited until she raised her head, and locked her eyes on his, before he continued. "I _want_ this. I _want_ you. And I _do_ trustyou. Maybe I shouldn't? But I do. I'm pretty sure if you were only interested in sleeping with me, you'd have gotten what you wanted last night and I'd have never heard from you again. If this is going to work between us… you need to forgive yourself. Because I've forgiven you."

Emma's eyes watered slightly at just how much faith he was putting in her.

Killian was right too.

Emma had spent so long hating the look she'd put on his face, the last time they were together, that she hadn't completely forgiven herself for causing it.

"I'm not good at this," she confessed. "I don't want to hurt you again. I couldn't live with myself if I did."

"Oh, Emma." Killian gathered her into his arms, and took it as a positive sign that she didn't fight to get away from him. "I trust that you won't hurt me again. Just as I hope that you'll trust that I don't want to hurt you. I want a chance to be in your life. Don't end this before it's truly begun."

Emma nodded into Killian's chest, and allowed him to hold her until her tears had dried.

"Come on, let's go find Ruby," he told her, when she finally pulled back with a small smile.

* * *

It didn't take them long to work out where Ruby had run off to.

Emma's friend had always been partial to Starbucks, so the one closest to the hotel seemed like the safest place to look first.

"Hey Ruby, sorry we chased you away," Emma apologized as she slid down into the free seat opposite her friend.

"You didn't," Ruby reassured her. "Are you guys okay?" She looked awkwardly between Emma and Killian, who had headed straight for the counter to grab some more coffee and breakfast treats. "I wanted to give you some time alone. I was gonna message and let you know where I was."

"I think so." Emma paused for a moment before turning back to her friend. "Ruby, do you think I'm too damaged for a healthy relationship?"

"Of course not," Ruby scoffed. "What on Earth gave you that idea?"

Emma raised a brow at her friend, that screamed _look at me_ , but Ruby wasn't buying it.

"You might not have had a conventional start in life, Emma, but neither did I. We're not damaged goods. Growing up without our parents doesn't mean we're not capable of love. We're just… special," she finally settled on. "That love we missed out on as kids – we'll find it one day, Ems. I mean, I ended up with Granny… and Lord knows she loves us both fiercely enough to make up for what we missed out on." Ruby paused before she delivered her final words on the subject, hoping they would make the greatest impact. "Maybe Killian will be that person to love you, the way you deserve to be loved."

* * *

Although their day hadn't gotten off to the best start, Killian fully intended to make up for it. He had an early-evening flight back to Vancouver, and Emma and Ruby's own would be departing a few hours before his. So, he intended to make the most of what little time they had left together.

He'd spent a few hours after his date with Emma, the night before, trying to think of something the three of them could do together for the day. Something that wouldn't involve them all sitting inside a casino, or that would make Ruby feel like a third wheel.

It was James, on the concierge desk that morning, that finally gave Killian his winning plan for the day.

"You really didn't need to do this," Emma sighed, as she leaned back into his arms. It wasn't the first time she'd used that phrase, and Killian suspected it wouldn't be the last either.

With James's help, Killian had booked three tickets for them to take a helicopter tour of the Grand Canyon, before landing to enjoy the Sky Walk that had been built over the Canyon. Killian knew it would take up most of their time together that day, but he also knew it would leave all three of them with memories they'd never forget.

"I know I didn't," Killian reassured her. "But we couldn't come to Vegas and not see the canyon. There has to be a law about that somewhere."

Emma chuckled as she turned in his arms, bringing her own up to loop around his neck. "Thank you for today."

Killian brought his forehead down to rest against her own, as he pulled her in tighter, before dropping his lips down to cover Emma's. Their kiss was slow and sweet, nothing too explicit given the amount of people that were walking the path around them. But it was just enough for them both to convey the emotion they felt in that moment.

As Emma pulled away to join Ruby, who had given them some space in favor of admiring the views, Killian took the opportunity to watch her. Emma had dressed simply for the day, in a pair of dark jeans; a sleeveless, one-shouldered, black top; and a pair of black ankle boots. But she looked absolutely stunning, as she stood looking out over the canyon. The sun caught her hair, making it shimmer and glow, as she threw her head back to laugh at whatever ruby had said. Killian watched the way she gesticulated wildly as she spoke, her hands almost telling a story of their own.

And he'd be lying if he said he didn't admire the way her jeans stretched over her backside as she leaned further out, to try to spot whatever it was Ruby had pointed out to her.

He definitely needed _another_ very cold shower when he got home that evening.

Killian wasn't sure what came over him in that moment, but as Emma turned slightly, her face in profile, to point out something else to Ruby, he pulled out his phone to take a couple of pictures of her, to remember their weekend. They'd had a few professional shots taken when their helicopter landed, but Killian wanted something more personal, for his own memories.

He also wasn't entirely sure what possessed him to pick his favorite image of Emma, her face darkened slightly by the shadows of the Canyon, with dark sunglasses covering her eyes, and attach it to a tweet that simply read;

 **Thanks for a wonderful weekend, Vegas. We enjoyed making new memories.**

* * *

 **Emma's look here is based on Jen's look for the 94** **th** **Running of the Indianapolis 500 in May 2010.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Thank you for your continued patience with these updates.**

* * *

"We probably shouldn't be doing this here," Emma mumbled against Killian's lips. But she didn't let go of the fistful of his shirt she had either.

"Why? Ashamed to be seen with me?" he teased, before bending to steal another kiss.

"Never," she sighed. "But I wasn't sure how public you wanted to make this."

Killian pulled back with a groan, as the PA system announced that Emma's flight was now boarding. "I'm not ashamed of you, Emma. If you want this to stay between us, it will. But I'm not going to pretend that you don't exist in my life."

Emma used her grip on Killian's shirt to yank him back in for another kiss, this time allowing her tongue to slip out to trace his lips.

"You should go," he told her, pulling back only far enough to drop his forehead down onto hers. If they carried on much longer, he wasn't going to let her leave.

And they'd probably be arrested for causing a scene in the airport.

"I wish I didn't have to."

"Me too," he assured her, as he slid his hands down her arms to link their fingers together. "But it won't be for long."

"I'll book my ticket for Chicago as soon as I'm home."

Killian chuckled at Emma's words, before he finally pulled back far enough to look her over from head-to-toe. She was a little pink in places, from being out in the Las Vegas sun. But she looked absolutely stunning in that moment; with her hair a little disheveled from his fingers, and her lips kiss-swollen and flushed from his stubble. "You know, we can see each other away from the conventions, right?" he teased. "Ruby tells me Storybrooke is a good place to escape for a weekend."

"You'd really come to Storybrooke? For me?" she wondered. Nobody had ever made an effort to travel to see her before.

"Of course I would, Emma. I told you… I _want_ to be with you. And, actually being in the same room, _together_ , is a large part of that."

"I've um… I've never been to Vancouver before," she admitted shyly, keeping her focus on their joined hands, between them.

"Then we definitely need to rectify that. Soon."

Killian was just about to pull her in for another kiss, when the sound of Ruby clearing her throat caught their attention.

"I'm really sorry, Guys. But, we have to go, Emma. We're gonna miss this flight if we don't."

Emma let out a frustrated sigh, as she allowed Killian to fold her into his arms once more, before he stepped back and away from her.

"Text me when you land? So I know you're safe?" he asked.

"I will. And you'll message me?"

"I'll call when I'm back home," he promised. "Thanks for coming, Beautiful."

"Thanks for not calling the police and having me thrown out," she chuckled, as he let go of her hands to stoop down and pick up her bag.

"I'll see you soon, Emma."

* * *

"I think Killian wants me to visit him in Vancouver," Emma whispered, once they were safely on the plane. She didn't think anyone from the convention would be onboard, but she was also taking no risks. She knew that everyone would think she was crazy if they overheard her talking about him in such a familiar way. And with the fandom being her happy place, Emma didn't want to do anything that would jeopardize that.

"Is that a bad thing?" Ruby asked.

"Not bad," Emma explained, "Just… odd? I mean, our whole relationship so far has revolved around conventions. What if seeing him outside of one kills the magic?"

"Trust me," Ruby scoffed, "There's not much that's gonna kill that magic. If people could spontaneously fuck due to sexual tension, you two would have been doing it all weekend."

Emma laughed a little at her best friend's crude analogy, but it did help her to relax. It was nice to know that the chemistry she'd always imagined them sharing wasn't just in her mind.

"So, you wanna come to Chicago with me?"

"Hell no," Ruby protested. "I'd play less of a third wheel if I had to physically act as one for a tricycle. You're on your own there."

"But, you'll still come to the Vancouver event, right?" Emma worried. "I was planning to meet Regina, Belle, and Ashley there. I figured we could turn it into a girly vacation of sorts?"

"I will gladly join you for a convention where there will be other people for me to slip off, with when you and your boyfriend wanna start getting frisky," Ruby agreed. "But, until that time, I'd rather stay home and lament the lack of a man in my own life."

'I'm so sorry, Ruby. I've been completely insensitive all weekend."

"No, you haven't," she scoffed. "You've been falling in love. And honestly, as your best friend, it's beautiful to see. I'm just having some fun with you, Ems. Lord knows you've needed it recently."

"I'm not sure 'falling in love' is an accurate statement here," Emma protested, as she dropped her gaze down to her fingers, in her lap. She needed to keep her mind as far away from that statement as she possibly could.

"I disagree," Ruby replied quietly. "I think you're both falling for each other. Hard and fast. It's why that whole Neal shit hurt as much as it did. But I don't think either of you are ready to face that word just yet."

"Well, I'll call you if we ever are," Emma laughed, attempting to break the heavy atmosphere that had settled over the two of them.

"You're damned right you will."

* * *

"Well…. this is you," Ruby explained needlessly, as she pulled the car to a stop in front of Emma's apartment building. "Do you need any help with your bags?"

"Um… yeah," she sighed. Being back in Storybrooke always seemed to bring on an abrupt end to the magic of a convention weekend. It was probably because Emma couldn't imagine a less magical place than the tiny town she called home.

Ruby put the car into park, before she slid out, to help her friend with the bags that were in the trunk.

"Which one do you need me to grab?" she asked, peering down at the space. Emma only had two bags in there, and Ruby knew for a fact that her friend could easily manage them both.

"The big red one."

"Uh… the big red one's mine." Ruby turned worried eyes up to her friend.

"I know," Emma replied slowly. "I thought you were hinting you'd like to move in? Or did I read that completely wrong?"

"Holy shit, Ems. Are you serious?"

"Of course I am. It's like you said… I have a spare room. I'm on my own now, without Neal. And you wanna get out of Granny's. This is the perfect way to do that."

"I will be _the best_ roommate you've ever had," Ruby promised, pulling Emma in for a tight hug.

"Well, you can't be much worse than the last one I had," she giggled. "Now, can we get inside? It's freezing out here."

* * *

While Ruby settled into the spare room, already making plans to put her own shine on it, Emma headed into her office, to check her messages. Thankfully David was always great at taking care of the station for her, while she was gone. But the mayor refused to deal with a deputy, so Emma wouldn't have been surprised to have found messages from him in her inbox.

While she was waiting for it to load, she decided to check Twitter, to see what her fandom friends were saying about the convention weekend.

"Whatcha doing?" Ruby asked, poking her head around the doorframe.

"Checking Twitter," Emma answered. "I thought you were unpacking."

"I didn't pack much to begin with." Ruby made her way around the desk for a better view of Emma's computer screen, on the other side. "What's this?" she asked, fingering the large Manilla envelope that was open to the side of the keyboard.

"My collection of photo ops."

"Why don't you frame them?" Ruby slid the pictures out of the envelope to flick through each one. She'd seen most of them before, but a couple were new to her.

She'd be willing to bet a large chunk of her tips, for that week, that the convention photographer suspected there was something going on between Emma and Killian, from the looks of Emma's collection of photo ops. Neither of them were exactly subtle in the way they looked at each other.

Emma lifted her head, to offer some kind of argument as to why they couldn't be framed, when she realised that with Neal now gone, she had none. There was nothing stopping her from framing each of her pictures to hang on her wall.

"Huh. I guess I could?"

"They'd look fab stretching down the length of the hall," Ruby added. "I could get some frames tomorrow when I'm on my lunch break?"

"Sure," Emma agreed. "Just make sure you get enough for yours too."

Ruby turned her attention back to Emma's screen, as her friend scrolled down her Twitter feed, too fast to really make out what had been written.

Emma only paused when she hit a retweet of one of Killian's own messages.

"Holy shit," her friend gasped. "That's you."

She clicked to enlarge the image on her screen, still not quite sure she could believe her own eyes.

But Ruby was right.

Killian had tweeted the message, **Thanks for a wonderful weekend, Vegas. We enjoyed making new memories** , and had added a picture of her to it.

"Did you know about this?" Ruby asked, already suspecting Emma's reply would be a no, given how intently her friend was staring at the image on the screen.

"He never said anything."

"What are the comments under the picture?" she pressed, reaching for Emma's mouse.

"I don't think I wanna know," Emma replied, pushing away from the desk. "They're gonna hate me. Oh God… I'll never be able to go to another con again."

"That's a little bit of an overreaction there, Ems."

When Emma didn't look convinced, Ruby continued, "Nobody knows it's you. You're not even looking at the camera, and half of your face is covered by your sunglasses."

Emma didn't look like she believed her friend. But, she stayed in the room, as Ruby slid down into the now-vacant seat, to scroll through the replies.

"Okay… most of the comments want to know who you are," she reported back. "Lots of, 'Is she your girlfriend?' questions. Some people replied saying that Killian had hinted at having a girlfriend over the weekend, during his panel. A few wanna know if you got married, in secret, while in Vegas. Some say you're very beautiful." Emma scoffed at that one, but Ruby simply cocked a brow in her direction. "If you don't believe me, come and see for yourself?" she challenged, as she continued scrolling down through the feed. When she was finished, she turned the screen round to face Emma. "I'm not gonna lie… there are a few nasty comments. But I read their Twitter feed, and they're just jealous that this means their own chance with Killian is probably now gone. You know… not that they ever really had one to begin with. Most are curious about your relationship to him, and the others are quite complimentary. But _nobody_ knows it's you."

"You're sure?"

"Absolutely," Ruby reassured her. "Most just wanna know whether you're related to him, or fucking him. I bet they wouldn't believe the answer is neither."

"Shut up," Emma chuckled, turning on her heels to leave the room. "Don't make me regret asking you to move in here."

"Like you regret turning down the opportunity to fuck him?" Ruby teased.

* * *

Emma shut herself away in her bedroom for the night, with her phone sat beside her on the bed, as she waited for Killian's call. She was only mildly ashamed to admit that she'd checked his flight details online, to make sure that nothing happened to the plane. Or that he wasn't planning to forget about her, once he'd returned to Vancouver.

Her nerves kicked in as soon as her phone told her that his flight had landed.

They picked up a gear when her phone told her an hour had passed since then. But she told herself that Killian was probably busy grabbing some food, and maybe even unpacking.

Her heart began to sink when ninety minutes, without any contact from him at all, had passed.

 _Surely it didn't take that long to get to his place, from the airport?_

She unlocked her phone numerous times to check the call settings, and to bring up their Messenger exchange. She even made it as far as typing out a quick message to him, asking how his flight was.

But she never sent it.

When two hours had passed without any sign of contact, Emma gave up, deciding instead to take a shower before heading to bed. With David having covered her weekend in Vegas, she had promised to take the early shift, so he could spend some time at home with Mary-Margret and Leo.

And the more time Emma spent staring at her phone, the more she wanted to throw it at the wall.

Or cry.

* * *

 **Is it just a British thing or do all regular convention goers turn their halls into the "Wall of Fame?"**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Sorry this one took so long coming. I was rushed back to hospital last week, which left me without a desire to even open my laptop, and apparently, it took rewriting this entire piece to finally be happy with it. I just hope you guys are too.**

* * *

Emma had just finished running a towel through her wet hair when the familiar sounds of the Fairytales theme tune reached her ears.

It took a full second longer than it should have, for her to work out what was going on, before she dropped the towel and sprinted back to her room. She was in such a hurry to get to her phone, before her voicemail kicked in, that she didn't even bother to check who was calling.

"Hello?" she panted.

"Emma? Is everything okay? Are you working?" The sound of Killian's voice, slightly high-pitched in his worry, sent Emma's heart racing.

His call might have been late, but at least it had come.

"No, I'm home," she assured him. "I was just in the shower and I didn't wanna miss your call."

"You, um… you missed the first three," Killian chuckled. But it sounded a little strained.

"I did?" Emma pulled the handset away from her ear to check her call logs. Sure enough, at the very top, were three missed calls from Killian's number. The first had come not long after she'd given up, and shut herself in the bathroom. "Oh shit. I'm so sorry. I thought you weren't gonna call."

"Why wouldn't I call?" he asked softly. "I had a great weekend with you, Emma. I'm just sorry it had to end so soon."

"Me too," she sighed. "I wish I could see you now."

"Well, we could always switch to Facetime," Killian teased.

Emma looked down at herself, sprawled across the bed in her eagerness to get to her phone, wrapped up in only a bright red, fluffy towel. "Probably not a good idea. I'm not wearing any clothes."

"You're _what_?" Killian squeaked out.

"I was in the shower," she answered lamely. When he didn't say anything else for a few moments, Emma added, "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"You didn't," Killian rushed to reassured her. "I mean… to be crudely honest… you kinda have. But it's nothing another cold shower won't fix."

When the hidden meaning behind his words finally landed, Emma squeaked out her own, "Oh." Part of her was a little embarrassed that she was currently discussing how little she was wearing, with Killian Jones. The other part of her was busy cheering that she had the power to arouse him with just one small sentence. "Another?" she finally asked, after playing his words back in her head for the umpteenth time.

"Emma," Killian ground out, "I don't mean to be rude, Love, but if we continue this conversation any further, it's going to dissolve into something _entirely_ different. I don't know about you, but the first time I hear you scream my name, I want it to be in person, and not over a phone line when we're miles apart."

Emma swallowed heavily at the heat burning behind Killian's tone. She nodded her head in the empty room, before realizing he couldn't see her, and answered him vocally. "You're right. We should… um… we should change the subject." She cursed her own body for betraying her, even as she squeezed out the words. Just knowing that he had thought about their first time together had arousal flooding her system.

"Yeah," he agreed. "I'm um… I'm sorry I was late calling. Me Mam called not long after my flight landed, and I could _not_ get her off the bloody phone."

"That's sweet," Emma chuckled. "She probably worries about you."

"She does. But she can be a little over the top at times," he explained. "Like, every time she sees that I'm boarding a plane, she worries something terrible is going to happen, and she'll never speak to me again. So, it's a nightmare getting her off the phone before boarding, and then when I land, it's like she feels that if she's not spoken to me, within the hour, I must be dead or something."

Emma picked at a loose thread on her towel as she thought over Killian's words. She knew he was only trying to change the subject. And that he loved his mother. She could hear it in his tone. But, a small part of her; the little lost girl who had grown up without the love of her parents; resented him a little for joking about something as precious as his mother's love.

"You should cherish that time with her," Emma finally stated, softly.

"I do," Killian assured her, picking up on her tone. "I miss me mam. I miss home in general, to be honest."

"Tell me about home?" Emma begged.

She spent the next ninety minutes on the phone, listening as Killian spoke about home, and his family. He told her about where he'd grown up, and the places he'd like to show her, one day. He spoke about his brother, Liam, and his own small family. Emma could tell that Killian missed seeing his nephews. She swooned a little more at the mental images her mind supplied of him, with the two small boys, he so clearly adored. She listened to him talk about fond memories of his parents, and laughed at some of his wilder childhood antics.

"I'm sorry. I completely rambled on there," Killian muttered, a little embarrassed, when he realized that Emma hadn't spoken for a while.

"It's okay. I liked learning more about you, and where you came from. I feel like I know you a little better now. And not just in that obsessive fangirl way I did before."

"Well, I should hope so," he chuckled. "There aren't any other fangirls who know how I kiss."

"Good point, Mr. Jones. Would it be rude of me to say I hope it stays that way?"

"Not at all." Killian was silent for a long moment, before a small yawn slipped out. "God, I'm sorry," he apologized. "The long weekend's finally catching up with me."

"It's okay. I should probably get some sleep too. I'm on the early shift, with David having covered for me all weekend."

"Then I'll definitely let you get some rest. I don't want you falling asleep on the job. Yours is far more dangerous than mine is," he chuckled.

"Oh, I don't know. Some of those stunts look pretty difficult," Emma teased.

"I wouldn't know. I have a stunt man for all of that." She laughed heartily at Killian's words, as his own chuckle rang through the phone.

It was a beautiful sound.

One Emma hoped to hear more often in her lifetime.

"I'm filming tomorrow, so I'm not sure how much I'll be around. But I can message you between scenes?" he offered.

"I'd like that. I'll probably be busy with paperwork, and meeting with the mayor, anyway." Emma groaned a little at the thought of the day she had ahead. The mayor was by far the most intimidating person in town. And the fact that he was also her ex-fiancé's father didn't help, either.

"Okay. I'll let you go and get some sleep. Goodnight, Emma."

"Goodnight, Killian," she sighed, ending the call before she could talk herself out of it.

* * *

When she woke the next morning, it was with a groan. The early mornings were perhaps the worst part of her job, but Emma knew that a brisk run, in the frosty Maine morning, would help wake her up a little.

A quick glance at her phone showed that she had one Facebook notification, and she pulled it up to load while she was tying her hair back. The friend request from **John K Jones** left her with the widest of smiles, and Emma didn't hesitate to click accept on it, before grabbing her water bottle to head out.

After her run, she showered and dressed for work. With Ruby still sleeping, Emma opted to skip coffee, and promised herself breakfast at Granny's later that morning, when the sleepy town was more awake.

She was mildly surprised to find the holding cells empty that morning, when she unlocked the station. Either David had been lenient over the weekend, or Leroy had actually behaved himself while she was gone. She suspected the former was more likely than the latter. But, either way, the stack of paperwork on her desk would keep her busy until Granny's was open for business.

While her computer was booting up, Emma opened her Facebook account once more. Ruby's suggestion about displaying her photo ops had been ringing in her head all morning. Neal had never really used the site before, and now that they weren't together, she didn't feel the need to hide her weekend activities, the way she had been previously. If her friends judged her for attending a convention, then so be it.

For the very first time since she'd started attending them, Emma uploaded one of her photo ops with Killian, before setting it as her profile picture, and closing the app.

The morning passed for her in a blur of boring, as she worked her way through the emails demanding her attention, and the paperwork she needed to sign and file away. As she had predicted, the mayor called as soon as was socially acceptable, to request her presence the following day. He wanted to go over some new plans he had for development down by the docks. While it wasn't strictly within Emma's duties as a Sherriff, taking on the role had meant accepting a seat on the town council. It was perhaps her least favourite area of the job, but Emma knew that there were plenty of people in town who relied on her to keep Gold in check. If he had it all his way, the town would be nothing but a tourist hotspot and they would be out in the cold.

When the last file in her first stack of work was signed, and filed away, Emma logged out of her computer, and grabbed her jacket, ready to head to Granny's for some breakfast. Ruby was already there, busy waiting tables, when Emma slid into one in the corner of the room. Ruby threw her friend a quick smile, and wave, before she turned her attention back to Archie, and his overly-complicated preference for his eggs.

While Emma waited for Ruby to take her order, she busied herself with pulling out her phone, and scrolling through her notifications. A few of her fandom friends had tagged her in spoilers for the upcoming episode of Fairytales, on Twitter, and Emma made a mental note to catch up on the show that evening. She'd missed Hook, as stupid as that sounded. And a quiet night in with him, and a glass of wine, sounded heavenly at that moment.

Emma wasn't surprised to see the notifications on her new profile picture. Most of her friends had asked who she was with. Some of her older, more estranged, contacts had commented on how handsome her 'boyfriend' was. Emma shouldn't have been surprised that barely any of them knew who Killian was, or where the image had been taken.

But it was the comment from **John K Jones** that left her wearing the goofiest grin all morning.

 **That guy looks so proud to be hugging the most beautiful woman in the room that weekend.**

"Should I ask?" Ruby questioned, as she made her way over to her best friend's side.

"Probably not," Emma chuckled.

* * *

"So, are we gonna talk about the elephant in the room?" Robin asked, as he flopped down next to Killian, in his trailer.

"I wasn't aware there was an elephant in the room." Killian kept his attention fully focused on his phone. He knew what Robin was hinting at. He knew the moment he'd posted that picture of Emma, on Instagram, that people were going to start asking questions. But that didn't mean he had to freely offer up the information they were looking for.

"The girl in your picture?" Robin prodded.

"What about her?"

"Do you have to make this so fucking difficult?" Robin snapped. "I'm your best friend. I just wanna know if you're seeing someone? Is that such a crime?"

Killian's stance softened a little at the hurt in Robin's tone. It wasn't that he wanted to keep the information from him. It was just that everything with Emma was still so new and fragile. He didn't want to do anything to jeopardize it.

And Killian knew that once Robin had heard the entire story, his friend wouldn't approve of how they had met.

"I am," Killian offered. "I'm seeing someone, and it's relatively new. So, I don't wanna say anything just yet. I wanna see where it goes first, and then we can have this conversation. Please… let me have this for myself? Just for a little while?"

"It's serious, then?" Robin asked softly.

"At the moment? No. But I think it could be."

Robin gave his friend a long and searching look, then nodded his agreement to drop the subject. But, before he did, he added, "Well, she looks beautiful, Mate."

"Yeah. She is," Killian agreed, as he turned his attention back to the message Emma had sent him.

* * *

"So… um… I booked a ticket for Chicago," she admitted that evening. Killian had messaged to ask if he could call her, when he got in from filming. Emma had replied less than ten minutes later, with a resounding yes.

"I'm not entirely surprised," he chuckled, making himself comfortable on the sofa with a bottle of beer. "But you know, I could always speak to the organizers and get you in for free? You don't need to waste your money on me."

"It's fine." Killian could imagine her waving away his concerns, even if he couldn't see her doing so. "I don't mind. I enjoy supporting you. And I've always had fun at every event I've been to. I'm actually meeting a friend there, who I met in Boston."

"I'm glad you won't be alone. But I don't like the idea of you spending all of your money on me." He didn't know much about how well law enforcement positions paid. But Killian knew far too well how much convention tickets could set back the fans.

"I have plenty in savings. Don't worry about me. I wouldn't be doing this if I couldn't afford it. I was, um…. I was thinking about maybe trying for your meet and greet this time."

"Really? You don't see enough of me as it is?" he chuckled. A large part of himself was flattered at just how much Emma supported him. Killian had dated before, while trying to make it big as an actor. But his past girlfriends had never really been that big on supporting him. Every part he got was either an inconvenience to their schedule, or not big enough, or appealing enough, for them to want to see him perform.

Since meeting Emma, he'd done his homework on her. He'd found her Twitter and Tumblr profiles, as well as her Facebook account. All three had suggested that she'd not only been a big fan of his on the show, but that she'd also seen most of his past filmography too.

"I don't think I could ever see too much of you," she admitted, shyly.

Killian had no idea how she managed to do it, but, somehow, Emma's compliments and praises never failed to send his heart into overdrive. He'd been surrounded by beautiful women before. Although, none quite as beautiful as Emma was. He'd had all kinds of compliments, from the sweet, to the down-right weird, thrown at him by fangirls, since he'd begun attending conventions. And yet, none of them ever managed to touch him the way she did.

"I know that feeling," he agreed softly. "Chicago seems too far away."

"It really does," Emma sighed. "But this helps. Being able to talk to you, even when I can't see you."

"Well, I can't promise that I can call every night," Killian reluctantly admitted. He knew that their work schedules would make that impossible for them. "But, I can promise that we'll stay in touch until then."

"I'd like that."

"Now, how was your first day back at work?" he asked, as he pulled his laptop closer to him. "I wanna know all about being a sheriff. Your job has been an endless source of fascination for me, since we met."

Emma giggled down the line, as she explained some of what her daily duties included, with being the sheriff for a small town. She added in a few of her more eventful weekends too, just to spice things up, given how uneventful most days were in Storybrooke.

As she spoke, Killian listened intently, asking questions whenever they came to him, about everything from the difference between state and federal laws, to just how much the show got right, when it came down to their own town sheriff. He even made a few notes to pass along to the writers for their next season, when Emma pointed out some glaringly obvious flaws.

She had absolutely no idea that he was also busy searching for flights to Maine, for his next free weekend.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Sorry this one didn't update over the weekend. Work dropped into my inbox that distracted me.**

* * *

"Please close the door behind you, Miss Swan."

Emma fought back the shiver that was inching up her spine, at the thought of being alone in a room with Mayor Gold. He'd always had that effect on her, from the moment they'd first been introduced. And from what the rest of the town told her, she wasn't the only one that felt that way.

"I trust you had a good vacation?" he offered conversationally. It would have been almost polite, if Gold had bothered to lift his head to address her. Instead, he kept his eyes trained on the papers before him.

"I did, thank you," Emma replied, keeping her tone as even as possible. "Did you enjoy your weekend?" She couldn't really care less about how his weekend had been, but Emma knew that it would benefit her, and the majority of the town, to keep up the pleasantries.

"It would have been better if my son wasn't constantly moping around the house, after his fiancée had kicked him out," he muttered, his pen still flying over the page in front of him.

Emma wanted to roll her eyes at his sly dig, but instead, she held her ground firm and offered, "Maybe _you_ should kick him out too? It might do him some good to learn to stand on his own two feet."

Gold's eyes finally lifted at Emma's words and locked on hers, hard. She forced herself to keep his gaze, to show she wouldn't be backing down.

While Emma was ashamed of how things between herself, Neal, and Killian had transpired; after her weekend in Vegas, she couldn't bring herself to regret the decisions she had made.

Just the thought of Killian had a small smile pulling at corners of her lips.

While she hated that there was once again such a great distance between them, Emma had returned from her run, that morning, to find the sweetest of messages waiting on her phone, from him. They'd exchanged a few more texts before she'd had to leave for her meeting, and Killian had needed to head to set. But he'd promised to call as soon as he had some downtime.

"I think that would be what is commonly known as kicking a man while he's down, Miss Swan. After all, he's simply waiting for you to come back to your senses. What would be the point in taking out a new lease if he won't be using it?"

Emma folded her arms over her chest, hoping it would help her remain calm, as she turned her attention back to the Mayor. "With all due respect, Sir, your son will be forever moping around your home if he's waiting for me to invite him back. Things between us are over. I have no intention of changing that."

"We'll see about that," Gold mumbled, before finally capping his pen and sliding his papers away. "Now, I didn't bring you here today to discuss your private life, Miss Swan, so, please, take a seat."

The childish side of Emma wanted to refuse, simply because she hated the idea of giving in to the creepy imp's wishes. But the logical side of her knew that Gold was not a man she wanted to be picking a fight with. Instead, she made her way over to one of the chairs sat in front of his elegant glass desk, before sitting down gracefully.

"Now, let's talk about those objections you had at the last town meeting, and see if we can come to some kind of agreement, shall we?"

* * *

"Ugh. A whiskey. Neat. Please, Ruby?" Emma requested, as she slid onto one of the bar stools at Granny's.

"It's Wednesday," Ruby stated, as if that answered Emma's unspoken question. "It's also eleven-thirty _am._ And you're working."

"I just spent three hours with the mayor," Emma countered. It was a lame excuse but it was all she had.

"Best I can do is slip some Baileys into your coffee, Sheriff."

"Deal," she agreed.

As Ruby busied herself preparing Emma's usual order, Emma picked absentmindedly at a napkin that had been left on the counter. "Did you know he expects me to take Neal back?" she asked quietly.

"Most of the town does," Ruby called back, over her shoulder. "They have no idea that you've replaced him with one of the sexiest men alive."

"Keep your voice down," Emma hissed. "And I didn't replace him. Things with me and Killian… he's not… I mean… it's just not like that, okay?"

"It's okay," Ruby soothed. "I know that. And it's okay to have chosen Killian over Neal. You don't need to keep beating yourself up over that decision, Emma."

"Yeah... well… as much as I'm enjoying this _thing_ I have with Killian, I still don't feel good about how it all started. So, can we just leave off the jokes, for now?"

"Of course," Ruby agreed, sliding Emma's drink over the counter to her. "Now, tell me all about what Gold wanted. I'm gonna guess it was to do with the construction plans he has?"

"Yeah. He wanted to come to some kind of agreement between the conflicting interests." Emma sighed, as she took a long sip from her coffee. The Baileys was barely noticeable, but it was definitely welcome. She knew when she took the job of sheriff that she'd be acting as a liaison between the rest of the town, and the mayor. But it didn't mean she enjoyed that part of her unofficial job description.

"Did you pitch him the ideas we came up with, during the alt-town meeting?"

The alt-town meetings were what Ruby had officially named their informal gatherings, when Granny closed the diner on Wednesday evenings. They were a way for the rest of the town to express their own thoughts and feelings, without fear of retaliation from their corrupt mayor.

"Yes, Ruby," she chuckled. "I've been doing this for years now. I know the drill."

* * *

Emma spent most of her day catching up on paperwork from the weekend. Contrary to Killian's belief, her job was nowhere near as exciting as he believed it to be. The town was so small, and intimate, that rarely was there ever a need for her to step in. Sure, Leroy would get himself arrested every now and then. But, having a resident drunk wasn't quite the same as what she was sure he pictured her doing on a daily basis.

Her life was certainly not an episode of Criminal Minds.

As if he'd known that she'd been thinking of him, Emma's phone began to vibrate on her desk, with Killian's name and picture flashing on the screen.

She answered the call with the greeting, "Sheriff Swan," as was her habit, when she was working.

"Damn, that's sexier than it has any right to be," he groaned. "Do you always answer your phone that way?"

"During working hours, yeah. Plus, I kinda figured you'd get a kick from it, given how much you seem to like my job title."

"I'd ask you always answer my calls that way, but it might get a little embarrassing in public," he chuckled.

Emma had to fight down her urge to giggle at his words. She loved knowing that she had such an effect on him. And that he wasn't ashamed to admit it. After so many years with Neal, who would grunt out an occasional, "you look nice," before she went out, it was a refreshing change to have someone offer compliments so freely.

"How was your meeting with the mayor?" he asked.

"Interesting. But it always is." She paused for a moment before adding, "He's Neal's father." Emma had promised herself not to withhold anything else about her past relationship with Neal, from Killian, after the mess it had caused. He deserved the truth.

"Huh," Killian mumbled. The line was silent for a few agonizing heartbeats, until he added, "He doesn't hold that against you, right? I mean, he was professional with you?"

"Gold's never really been the most professional of people, but he was okay. He didn't really treat me any differently to how he used to, when I was engaged to his son, if that's what you mean?"

"That's good," Killian assured her. "But if he does begin to treat you differently, you'll do something about it, right? I mean… just… don't let him walk all over you, Emma."

"I won't," she promised. "As hard as it might be to believe, when I'm not around you, I can actually be a fairly strong and confident woman."

"Oh, really?" he teased. "You mean all that word-vomiting is saved just for me?"

"You're _that_ special," she giggled. "How was _your_ day?"

"Cold," Killian chuckled. "This leather jacket only offers so much protection from the elements up here. But we got the shots we needed, so at least I won't be stuck out on a ship all day."

"A ship?" Emma couldn't stop the fangirl inside of her from perking up at that small spoiler. "Hook gets his ship back?"

"I didn't say that," Killian hurried to clarify. "It could be a flashback, for all you know."

She deflated a little at the idea of that. Emma had been hoping Hook would get his beloved Jolly Roger back all season. But maybe, if she kept asking, Killian would slip up again one day, and let a few small spoilers slide.

"Well, either way, I'm glad we're going to see Hook and the Jolly again. You look sexy on a ship."

* * *

That first week back in Storybrooke, Emma and Killian settled into an easy routine. Every morning, after her run, Emma would find a good morning message on her phone, from Killian. They'd exchange brief texts throughout the day, while they worked, and if there was time, Killian would call during his lunch break. Each evening, at around nine _pm,_ he'd call again, and they would stay on the phone for hours, learning a little more about each other.

While Emma hated that she couldn't see him while they spoke, she loved that they were getting to know each other better. Killian would share things with her that she couldn't find on Google, and in return, she would tell him a little more about her background.

Emma started small. Talking about herself had never been one of her strong suits. But she knew that, piece by piece, she was feeding him more information about herself than she had ever told anyone before. Killian made her feel comfortable in a way nobody else had ever managed to achieve.

As the first week morphed into the second, Emma and Ruby also began to settle into a routine of their own. While Emma had been used to living with Neal, living with Ruby was something else altogether. Her friend was much louder, and more present, in the apartment, than Neal had ever been.

The first Thursday Emma came home to find the kitchen stocked with groceries, she had to do a double take. Neal had never once been grocery shopping, in all the years she'd known him. It was usually a job left for her, when she finished work Sunday evening. Ruby, however, had felt it only fair to stock the cupboards for them both, given that she'd been eating food, purchased by her friend, for the previous week.

And she did so, during her day off, without needing to be asked.

Ruby also cooked, which made a nice change. Emma couldn't remember the last meal she'd eaten, in the apartment, that she hadn't cooked for herself, or ordered in.

Eventually, the two of them slipped into a routine, which allowed for them both to contribute equally to the upkeep of their home, and gave them more time to spend together, at the end of the day. As much as Emma enjoyed her evening chats with Killian, she also loved being able to come home, and curl up on her sofa, to talk with her best friend.

"So, tell me how things with Killian are going?" Ruby asked, on Sunday night. They'd ordered pizza for the evening, and opened a bottle of wine to share, while they waited for Fairytales to start.

"Well… I think?" Emma replied. "We talk every day, which is nice. He tells me about work, Canada, Ireland, and his family. I tell him about my job, you, and my lack of family."

"That's good. I mean, your phone seems practically glued to your hands these days, so I took that to mean it was going well." Ruby paused to enjoy another slice of pizza, before she asked, "When are you going to see each other again?"

"Um… Chicago," Emma stated, like it was the most obvious answer in the world.

"Isn't the Chicago event like six weeks away?" When Emma raised a questioning brow, Ruby added, "I Googled it."

"Yeah," Emma sighed. "But we're both busy. And Killian hasn't mentioned anything else about visiting. I don't wanna push my luck."

"I don't think you'd be pushing your luck, Ems," Ruby reasoned. "You guys are in a relationship. It's only natural that you'd wanna see each other, in a time frame of less than eight weeks. Why not ask if you can go up and visit for a long weekend?"

Emma fiddled with the box their pizza had come in, and Ruby was able to use that time to piece together what her friend wasn't saying. "You're worried he's going to say no," she realized.

"Well, wouldn't you be?" Emma snapped. "Everything is still so fragile and I don't want to risk this by pushing him too far, too fast."

Ruby turned in her seat, facing away from the television and towards her friend. "Emma, you can't let what happened before hang over your relationship forever. If you keep hesitating because you're scared, things are _never_ going to move forward. And then you guys are going to end up in a stale relationship, going nowhere. _Take a chance._ I'm sure if Killian wasn't ready for this, he wouldn't have suggested it in Vegas."

"You really think so?" she asked softly.

Ruby's heart broke a little, for her friend, in that moment. She looked so doubtful of herself, and this new relationship she had formed.

"I'm positive. If you're not sure, though, you can always drop some hints. We women are notoriously good at that, I hear."

Emma chuckled at her friend's words, before the sounds of the familiar strain of music, for the network, caught her attention. She turned her body back towards the television, before warning, "Shush, it's starting," unnecessarily.

* * *

"So, what did you think?" Killian asked, as he sank down into his couch. He'd been at work while the episode aired, but he knew that Emma would make the time to watch the show.

She always did.

"I loved it," she replied, enthusiastically. "I mean, for me, personally, there wasn't enough Hook in the episode. But I loved how the storyline moved forward. I feel like I sort of have this idea about where you guys are going, but then, I've felt that way before and been wrong."

Killian chuckled at her obvious excitement. While virtually every fan he spoke to often gushed over the show, and what they loved about it, he'd never cared as much for their opinions as he did for Emma's. Since meeting her, he'd wanted her to be happy with the way the storyline was progressing for the season. But, more selfishly, he wanted her to be proud of his own performance.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it. But I am curious about just how much more of Hook you would have wanted to see in the episode? I think I was in like three-quarters of the scenes we shot for it."

"Well, ideally, you should be in all of them," she answered honestly. "I mean, even if you just stand in the background, looking pretty, I'd be happy. And I'm sure a lot of your fans would too."

"Ahh, I see," he teased. "So, what you're really trying to say is that, you just want to objectify me throughout the episode."

"Of course," Emma scoffed. "I mean, have you ever seen the E!News Tumblr blog?"

"I can't say I even know what a Tumblr blog is," Killian chuckled. It was true, too. He'd heard the term before, mainly at conventions. But he had absolutely no idea what it involved.

"You're missing out," Emma chuckled. "Although, fans can be brutal. So, maybe don't Google it? You might get all the shit instead of just tailoring your search to the good stuff. I'll send you some screenshots instead. Let's just say that E!News are _very_ complimentary of your performance each episode."

"That's good know. I'll have to thank them next time they interview me."

* * *

"So, how are things going with this new mystery woman?" Robin asked casually, as he dropped down into the chair next to Killian's, in the makeup trailer, Monday morning.

"I thought you were going to drop it," Killian questioned, keeping his gaze fixed on the newspaper in his hands.

"I can't ask how my best friend's love life is going?" Robin protested.

"It's going well, thanks. We're taking it slow, and enjoying getting to know each other."

"Sounds good," his friend encouraged. "You seem happier. Certainly, happier than you were before the Vegas weekend."

"Yeah, there was a, um… a misunderstanding… that needed to be cleared up."

"And she did that while you were in Vegas?"

Killian wasn't really sure where Robin was going with his line of questioning, but he had to admit, he'd been dying to talk to someone else about Emma all week. Even if he was only giving vague responses.

"Yeah. She flew out to talk to me about it. We sorted things out, cleared the air, and now we're good."

"Cool. Having you moping around here wasn't really much fun for any of us," Robin chuckled.

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." Killian brought a hand up to scratch behind his ear. Something he often did when he was nervous, or embarrassed. "It um… I think she could mean a lot to me. So, when we misunderstood each other, it hurt. A lot."

"Well, I'm glad you managed to get it all straightened out. And when you're ready, I can't wait to meet her. If she's got you so torn up, she must be one hell of a woman."

"Oh, she definitely is," Killian agreed.

As the makeup artist finished with his eyeliner, Killian stood from his seat, stretched a little, and reached for his phone. The alert from Emma was already waiting for him, and he couldn't stop the smile from breaking across his face as he pulled it open.

"Hey, can I ask one more thing?" Robin wondered.

"Sure," Killian muttered, already distracted by Emma's words.

"Do I at least get to know the name of the woman that can put a smile like _that_ on your face?"

Killian locked his phone, and quickly stuffed it in his pocket, resolving to reply to Emma's message when he was alone, in his trailer. "It's Emma," he told Robin. "Her name's Emma."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	21. Chapter 21

"Do you get the feeling that our friends have ulterior motives tonight?" Emma whispered, as she pulled Ruby aside in Mary-Margret and David's kitchen.

"Because of Victor?" the brunette asked. "Definitely."

"Ugh. This is the last thing I need."

After a difficult week at work, Mary-Margret and David had invited Ruby and Emma to their home, for a dinner party. When David made the offer, he'd made it sound like a casual dinner, between friends. When Mary-Margret called to check that her husband had actually extended the invitation, she'd made it sound like a classy dinner party, between friends.

Now, as Emma escaped to the kitchen, in search of more wine, she realized that it was actually an attempt to set her up with the town's doctor, while she was surrounded by her friends.

"What am I gonna do?" she sighed.

"You could try telling them the truth?" Ruby suggested, as she finally found a bottle of wine to open.

"Oh, yeah? That would go down well," Emma snarked. "'Sorry guys, I can't date the town doctor because I actually have this thing with a famous actor.' Nobody's gonna believe that, Ruby."

"I'd be there to back you up. So, I'm sure they would." Ruby grabbed the clean glasses, and the opened bottle, off the side, somehow managing to juggle them all, without spilling a drop, as she led the way back to the table. "Or, you know, you could just go with the old, 'I'm-seeing-someone' line," she threw over her shoulder.

Emma plastered on her best fake smile, as she took her seat, next to Victor, at the dinner table.

"We thought you ladies were making the wine," he chuckled.

"Sorry. Just having a little gossip," Ruby replied sweetly, as she began pouring drinks for everyone but Mary-Margret, who was still breastfeeding. "You know how us girls are."

"Of course," Victor chuckled, sipping from his own glass.

Emma couldn't quite control the childish urge inside of her, that was chanting _choke_ at him, as he did.

"So… Emma… have you heard from Neal at all since your split?" Mary-Margret asked, suddenly.

Emma's mental chanting almost backfired on herself, as she choked a little on thin air, at the invasive question.

"Nope," she replied honestly. "I think he's tried calling and texting, but I've just been deleting everything from his number."

"Wow, he must have _really_ pissed you off," Victor snorted. "Remind me to stay on your good side, Sheriff." He added what he must have thought was a sexy wink, but to Emma, it looked more like something had gotten stuck in his eye, and he was trying to blink it away.

"I should fetch our starters," Mary-Margret threw in, sensing the building tension in the room. "David, would you like to help me?"

"So, Emma? Can I call you Emma?" Victor continued, turning towards her, and his back to Ruby. "How did you become a cop?"

"It's a long story," she answered dismissively.

And it certainly wasn't one she was ready to share with Victor.

"Well… I have all night," he replied.

Emma assumed that he thought he was being smooth, that evening. Victor had angled his body towards hers, and was asking questions about her life, in attempt to get her to open up to him, a little more. He'd completely forgotten about Ruby, sat on his other side. And that wasn't helping his cause.

Unfortunately for him, Emma had spent so much time around Killian Jones recently, that seeing how hard Victor was working, to try and get her to engage with him, just highlighted how different the two men were. Killian's conversation and actions had always seemed so effortless and natural. There was nothing forced about it, which was why Emma had opened up to him, the way she couldn't bring herself to do with Victor.

Killian would also have never turned his back on Ruby, in an attempt to impress Emma.

Thankfully, the arrival of their soup halted any further conversation, and Emma jumped at the chance to ask Mary-Margret and David about Leo's newest developments, when they sat back down. Like most parents, the Nolans were able to fill the time, while everybody ate, with small anecdotes about their son. Emma and Ruby truly enjoyed listening to them gush over little Leo's newest achievements, and cooed over the most recent pictures on David's phone.

The Nolans had been trying for a baby for years, before Leo made his surprising appearance in the world. They'd almost given up hope of ever conceiving a child of their own, and had begun to consider their other options, when Mary-Margret fell sick one weekend, just before Christmas. Her sickness bug turned out to be hyperemesis gravidarum, and as much as she hated spending the holidays in the hospital, Mary-Margret was over the moon with the news of her little Christmas miracle.

Emma volunteered to clear away their bowls and spoons, when everyone had finished eating, that evening. Mary-Margret followed after her friend, hurrying to the kitchen to begin plating up their main meals.

"How's it going?" she asked, over the top of her saucepan of mashed potatoes.

"Not bad," Emma mumbled, as she began to stack the dirty crockery in the dishwasher. "Leroy's being a pain in my ass… again… but that's nothing new."

"Not work, Emma," her friend sighed. "I mean with Victor. Isn't he just the sweetest?"

"Not really," Emma hedged.

And honestly, it was the truth.

Compared to Killian, Victor was coming off as more creepy, than he was sweet and charming.

But Emma knew better than to voice that opinion.

"Oh, come on, Emma," Mary-Margret encouraged, as she held out a hand for one of the empty plates. "He's a nice guy. Has a stable job. Owns his own home… You could do a lot worse."

Emma didn't miss the look that clearly showed her friend thought she already had.

"I could also do a lot better," she said instead.

To put an end to the conversation, Emma began moving the now-full plates over to the dining room, knowing that Mary-Margret wouldn't push the subject in public.

Ruby cocked a brow in the direction of her best-friend, but Emma simply shrugged off her concern. She knew, deep down, that her friends were only trying to help. And Mary-Margret couldn't know that she already had someone in her life. So, Emma tried her hardest not to be irritated by their meddling.

Thankfully, conversation throughout their main meal was mostly led by Ruby, who was able to pick some of the best gossip she had heard, working at the dinner that week, to share with her friends. Ruby had one of those faces, that always made her customers want to spill their secrets to her. Yet, as much as she enjoyed a good gossip, Ruby also knew when to keep things to herself. Emma knew that her friend was probably told more about everybody in their town, than she would ever let on.

It was one of the reasons Emma loved her so much. There was nobody else in the world that she trusted, the way she did Ruby Lucas.

* * *

It was as dessert was served that things started to go downhill.

While Victor might have been a smart guy; he really couldn't read the situation around him, as he asked, "Emma, how would you like to go for a nightcap when we leave?"

"Um…"

Emma's panicked eyes met Ruby's, over the top of Victor's head. She knew the guy had a reputation for sleeping his way through the town, but Emma also knew that he was a damned good doctor, and he really wasn't that bad of a person. She didn't relish the idea of hurting his feelings, but she also didn't want to lead him on.

"Thanks for the offer," she began carefully.

Victor cut her off before she could continue. "Excellent news. The Rabbit Hole should still be open. Or… we could always go back to my place?"

"Oh, Emma, I completely forgot," Ruby interrupted loudly, from behind him. "John called while you were in the shower, this evening. He wanted to let you know things at work had run a little late, so he wasn't gonna be able to call at his usual time. But, if you were still awake when he finished, he'd call then."

"John?" Mary-Margret asked suddenly. "Who's John?"

"He's someone I've been seeing recently," Emma replied quietly, thankful that Ruby had chosen to use Killian's middle name, as his alias. She knew the name _Killian_ wasn't common enough to not raise red flags with her friends. And, if they happened to checked her Facebook profile, they'd see enough of 'John's' recent comments to make it look less suspicious.

"Why didn't you say anything?" David asked, looking a little offended that he hadn't been told about such an important development in Emma's life.

Emma hated that she was having to lie to David and Mary-Margret, in that moment. But, she also knew that so much was still so uncertain. She didn't want to have to explain her relationship with Killian, that night, only to have to explain how it had ended, the following month.

"It's new," she finally decided. It wasn't exactly a lie, either. "We're just taking things slow, at the moment. So, there's not really much to talk about."

Mary-Margret reached across the table, to take her friend's hand into her own, and offer it a gentle squeeze. "Well, I hope this John treats you much better than Neal did."

"Oh, trust me," Ruby scoffed, "He already does."

* * *

"Should I be worried about this Victor guy?" Killian asked, as Emma flopped back onto her bed. She'd called him as soon as she'd gotten back to the apartment, even though Ruby had assured her that she'd lied about the call he'd supposedly made. Emma had missed hearing his voice all day, and she'd never pass up an opportunity to listen to that accent again.

"Not at all," she chuckled. "He left fairly soon after Ruby announced that I was dating 'John.' I'm sure he'll find someone else to share that drink with."

"Poor guy. I kinda feel bad for him."

"You do?" Emma questioned, her voice rising with disbelief.

"Sure. I mean… there he was, thinking he'd have a shot with the most beautiful woman in town. And now… he's going home with the knowledge that she's off the market. That's gotta sting a little."

"I doubt many people in this town would argue that I'm the prettiest woman in it. Maybe Ruby? But certainly not me," Emma protested, even as her heart soared at the sweetness of his words.

"I don't know," Killian hedged. "I mean, Ruby's lovely and all, but she's not exactly my type. I prefer beautiful blondes; with stunning green eyes, that sparkle when she's excited; and a brain that's not quite capable of fully filtering her thoughts, when she's around me."

"Wow. You have _really_ specific tastes," Emma giggled. "How will you _ever_ find someone to meet those requirements."

"It's a good job I already have."

* * *

Emma's week progressed much the same as they always did in Storybrooke.

During the day, she would busy herself at work, making arrangements for a new delivery of computers, that she had ordered to help speed up their archaic processes. Or, pushing the usual paperwork, that always came with her job.

At night, she and Ruby would take it in turns to cook for each other, before they sat down to binge a show together on Netflix. Emma would always end her evening, curled up in bed and talking to Killian, until one of them began yawning so much, that they had to say goodnight.

* * *

"I think we should go out tonight," Ruby suggested, as she was making coffee Friday morning. "It doesn't have to be anything crazy. I just feel like I might be developing cabin fever in here."

Emma chuckled a little, at her friend's dramatics. Truth be told, she didn't really fancy a night at The Rabbit Hole. It was hard for Emma, to switch off her role as the town's Sheriff. And The Hole could attract some of the worst behavior in town.

But, Emma knew that she owed her friend, after Vegas.

So, if Ruby wanted to go out, and have a few drinks at the local bar, Emma wouldn't say no.

"Sure, I don't see why not," she replied. "David's on call tonight, so as long as I don't have anything too heavy to drink, it should be fine."

"Excellent news," Ruby cheered, as she made her way over to kiss her friend, on the cheek. "I'll be finished at around six, so wait for me here? We can head out as soon as I've showered off the grease?"

"It's a date," Emma promised.

* * *

"Okay, Mr. Clarke, what seems to be the problem?" Emma asked, as she pushed her way into the small pharmacy, later that afternoon.

The rather harried looking pharmacist was glaring in the direction of two teenagers, who had been locked in his office.

"Those two," he explained, with a nod of his head. "I caught them shoplifting."

Emma sighed to herself, as she took a good look through the window. She recognized both of the kids. And, while neither of them had ever caused trouble before, she also knew that every once in a while, a game would go around Storybrooke High, daring the kids there to steal something from Old Mr. Clarke, in the pharmacy.

Which meant that it was time for the Sheriff to schedule her annual trip to the school, to lecture the kids on why it wasn't such a great idea to turn to a life of petty crime, just to impress their friends.

"I'll take care of it," she assured the older man. "I assume you don't want to press charges?"

"Nope. I caught them before they could leave the building. They handed everything over pretty quickly, when I called you."

They usually did, when they'd been caught.

Mr. Clarke might have been known as a rather docile old man, but he'd grown up in Storybrooke, much like the rest of the town. He was well aware of the game the kids liked to play, in his store. While he didn't want to cause them trouble, he had found, over the years, that having the town sheriff come out, to reprimand the kids for their behavior, was far more effective than when he did it, himself.

"Okay," she sighed, before making her way over to the office.

"Afternoon kids," Emma greeted, as she pulled open the door. "It's your lucky day, today. We're going on a little trip back to _my_ office now, and _you_ get the pleasure of explaining to your parents why I have you locked in one of my holding cells," she told them, with forced cheer.

Although, the smile that crossed Emma's face, at the look of absolute horror that developed on theirs, wasn't forced, at all.

* * *

Emma spent most of the rest of her day dealing with the two teenagers who had been caught in their game. As their parents both worked, she kept them in her holding cells, for the rest of the afternoon, while they waited for their parents to come and collect them. It was something that both sets of parents were more than happy to agree to, in the hopes that it would scare their kids straight. And, given the way they both left the station, with their heads down, and full of apologies, Emma imagined that it had certainly had the desired effect.

She also used her time to place a call, to the Principle of Storybrooke High, to make arrangements to speak to the pupils of the school, on Monday afternoon. David had never delivered one of the lectures before, so Emma made a note to send him instead, for a change.

It took her a little longer than she would have liked to finish filling in the paperwork associated with the incident. All calls placed through the system had to be officially recorded. Even if they did involve a silly game, and no criminal charges. So, Emma was relieved to finally lock up the Station for the evening, and head back home, only an hour later than she had planned.

David would be on call that evening, with all emergencies rerouted to his cell phone, should it be needed.

But it rarely was.

* * *

"Ruby?" Emma called out, as she let herself into their apartment. The answering silence of the loft told her that Ruby hadn't yet finished her own shift, thankfully.

Emma took a moment to make herself a quick sandwich, before she headed for her shower. She had no idea what the plans were for that evening; but what she did know was that drinking on an empty stomach always ended with her head in the toilet bowl. So, Emma figured it would be a good idea to eat a little something, just in case Ruby hadn't factored food into her plans for the night.

Without her friend in the loft, Emma ran into further trouble, when it came to actually dressing for the night ahead. She had a few nice dresses in her closet, that she had purchased for the occasional party, or night out with Neal. But Emma was positive most of them wouldn't be the kind of dress she'd need for a night out with Ruby.

After pulling virtually everything out of the cupboard, she finally stumbled over a dress she'd bought a few years back, but had never actually worn. When Emma had first shown it to Neal, he hadn't been exactly wowed by the design, like she had hoped. So, Emma had shoved the dress to the very back of her closet, and never thought of it again.

As she pulled it out, and smoothed down some of the creases in the skirt, Emma realized that, with the help of an iron, it could be the perfect dress for her evening out. It didn't take her long to steam the garment into a more acceptable condition, and, once she had, Emma slipped it over her head, and shimmied the black fabric down her body, before she stretched for the zip at the back.

"Fuck," she cursed, as she realized that, without Ruby around, she couldn't reach to pull the zip up completely. The dress was so tight on her, that Emma doubted she'd be able to pull the old, zip-and-twist maneuver, either.

To make matters worse, it was at that moment that a firm knock rang out through the apartment.

"Shit," she cursed again, before looking down at herself, to make sure everything important was covered.

Emma debated ignoring whoever it was. But, when another two knocks sounded, in quick succession, she let out a small huff, before storming over to pull open the door.

It took her a moment to work out what she was seeing. But, when it finally clicked, all of Emma's frustration disappeared, as she let out an amused chuckle. The poor delivery boy, waiting on the other side, was almost completely hidden behind the arrangement of flowers that he was carrying.

"Um… come in," she told him, opening the door wider. She gestured in the direction of her kitchen, before adding, "You can set them down on the counter."

Emma turned away from the open door, and headed back to her bedroom, to grab her phone. She watched, from the corner of her eye, as the delivery boy headed towards the kitchen, to set the flowers down on the counter, as she had asked.

She knew that Killian had hinted at sending Ruby flowers, to thank her for what she had done. But Emma didn't think he'd go _that_ crazy over the arrangement.

 _Just had a delivery boy show up at my door._

 _You know that Ruby would have been happy with a small bunch that she could ACTUALLY fit into a vase, right?_

Emma tapped out the quick message, and hit send, just as she made her way back towards the lounge.

The small chime of an incoming notification had her stopping to check her own phone.

Killian was usually quick at replying, when he wasn't on set.

But he wasn't _that_ quick.

When Emma saw no new notifications on her lock screen, her brow furrowed in confusion, before she turned her attention to the delivery boy, who was still stood in the middle of her home, with his own phone, in his hand.

"You do know these come with a vase, right?" he asked.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**

 **I think I got all the review replies out this afternoon, but I apologise if I missed anyone.**

 **I wanted to say a special thanks to thecaptainmissy, Alexa, candycane56, JoAnne, Jrob64, Pixie Paws1 and all the other guests and reviewers who have their PMs turned off.**

 **If you'd like your own little teasers for the next chapters, I'll add them to my tumblr account (Kymbersmith-90) so you can read them there, when they're ready.**


	22. Chapter 22

**I hope you all had a Merry Christmas.**

* * *

" _You do know these come with a vase, right?" he asked._

* * *

The only sound in the apartment was the dull thud Emma's phone made, as it hit the floor.

She opened her mouth to say something, then snapped it shut, before opening it again.

"Killian?" she finally whispered.

"Hey, Beautiful," he smirked.

Killian waited patiently, as Emma tried her hardest to compose herself. His plan had been to reveal himself the moment she had pulled the door open. But seeing her there, fresh-faced, and wearing nothing but a sinfully tight dress, and a pair of sky-high heels, had left all coherent thoughts fleeing his mind. Instead of announcing his presence, he'd ended up just following the instructions she had given him, on autopilot. When he'd placed those flowers, on the counter, and turned around to explain himself, Emma had disappeared.

"You're here," she finally stated. "Why are you here?"

"I missed you," he replied softly, as he took a few small steps forward, and closer to her. "But, I can leave, if you're busy?" His eyes flicked down the dress Emma was wearing, darkening slightly at the delectable peek it gave of her cleavage, before he lifted them to meet her gaze.

"No," Emma hurried to assure him.

"'No,' you're not busy, or, 'No,' you don't want me to leave?" he chuckled.

"Both?" she asked quietly, as Killian reached forward to take her hands into his. "I guess I'm just stunned that you're here."

"Is it really that surprising?" he wondered, as he joined their fingers together, between the two of them. "I thought I'd made it pretty clear that I couldn't get enough of you?"

"I guess it's still a little hard to believe," she admitted quietly. "Nobody's ever really been all that eager to spend time with me."

"I bet Victor would be," he teased, as his eyebrows jumped on his forehead. "Especially when you're wearing that dress."

Emma looked down at herself and flushed bright red at the reminder of what she was wearing. But Killian didn't give her the time to doubt herself. Instead, he dipped his head, as he leaned in, to press a soft kiss to her lips.

As soon as Killian's lips met hers, Emma's body seemed to spark into life, as she gasped beneath him. She slid her hands up his arms, using one to anchor herself to him, while the other buried itself in his hair, as Killian's own wrapped around her back, to pull her in tight. She didn't realise they were moving, until her back hit the wall behind her. Emma moaned against his lips, as she used the solidness of the wall to push herself further into his embrace, suddenly desperate to feel Killian's hands all over her.

"God. Tell me you want this as much as I do," he begged her, as he dropped his lips down, to begin covering every inch of bare flesh he could see, that her dress failed to cover.

"I do," she gasped, arching forward to thrust her chest closer to his searching lips. "I want this…. I want you." To make her point, she began tugging on the leather jacket he was wearing, pulling it down Killian's arms until he finally, reluctantly, let go of her, to slide it off completely.

Killian didn't hesitate to drop his hands down to Emma's hips, before he slid them round to her back, and down, over her ass, to test to give in her dress. When he realised that it was probably too tight for what he had planned, he gave it a gentle tug, to ease the fabric up slightly, over her hips, before he pulled softly, on the back of her thighs, to encourage her up and into his arms.

Emma moaned wantonly at the change in position, as she wrapped her legs around Killian's waist, locking her ankles together to pull him in impossibly closer. The change in position allowed her to feel every inch of him pressed against her, and Emma couldn't have stopped herself from grinding down against him if she'd have wanted to.

"Shit," Killian gasped, as he broke free from her lips once more. This time, Emma was the one who wouldn't remove her lips from his skin, as she kissed along his cheekbone, to suckle on his earlobe. "Bedroom?"

"Down the hall," she whispered.

Emma stopped her kissing just long enough for Killian to find his way there. But the moment he kicked her bedroom door half-closed, she pulled his lips back to hers.

"God, you're so beautiful," he mumbled, as he reached up to pull Emma's hair free from the ponytail she'd tied it back in.

Emma wanted to protest that she really wasn't anything special. But, with Killian looking at her, the way he was, she actually found herself believing that she could be.

"May I?" he asked, suddenly pulling back to meet her eyes. Emma was confused for a split second, until she felt Killian's fingers dance along her skin, just above the zipper of her dress.

"Yeah." She nodded for added effect, and watched as his eyes seemed to darken further, before Killian carefully pulled the zip the rest of the way down. He kept his eyes firmly fixed on Emma's, as his hands slid up her back, to the thin straps that were holding the dress in place, before he gently pushed them off her shoulders.

The moment the dress hit the floor at Emma's feet, she brought her hands up, ready to cover herself. She was painfully aware that she was stood before him, wearing nothing but a pair of black lace panties, and her favourite black heels, while Killian was still fully dressed.

"Don't," he barked out, startling her slightly, in the quiet of the room. "Don't cover yourself," he explained, lowering his voice. "You're stunning. I want to _see_ you. All of you."

Emma lowered her arms back down to her sides, but Killian could sense that she was still feeling a little awkward about the entire situation.

While he'd never met Neal _,_ Ruby had told him a few less-than-pleasant stories about Emma's former flame. However, it wasn't until that moment when Killian truly found himself hating the guy. Neal had been lucky enough to spend _years_ with the goddess before him. She should have been stood there, confident in her beauty and sexuality.

Not wanting to hide away from him, uncertain of herself.

 _Jesus, did the guy never tell her just how beautiful she was?_

Killian was smart enough to know that bringing up his thoughts, in that moment, wouldn't help at all. So, instead, he reached back and over his shoulders, to grab the black t-shirt he was wearing, and pulled it over his head. Being topless was never something he felt overly confident about either. However, he hoped that it would help Emma feel less vulnerable in that moment.

It was as his hands dropped down to undo his own belt that he felt the first brush of her fingertips, down his chest.

"Sorry," Emma mumbled, pulling her hand back suddenly, when Killian's eyes flew up to meet hers.

"Don't be," he chuckled. "You can touch me, Emma. In fact, I quite like it when you do."

Emma tentatively brought her hand back to Killian's chest, running it down the patch of dark hair there. It was something she had dreamed of doing, ever since Hook had shown up on her screen, wearing those low-cut shirts he loved. The hair was much softer than she had expected it to be, and Killian appeared to be far more sensitive than she had imagined, given how the muscles of his stomach jumped under her touch. In a moment of spontaneity, she brought her hands up to brush over his nipples, and Killian moaned low in his throat.

"Jesus, that's far sexier than it should be," he mumbled, pulling her in a little closer, to brush kisses over her collarbone.

As Emma's hands continued their exploration of Killian's back and chest, Killian decided to do a little exploring of his own, as he started to cover her skin in small, delicate kisses. It was obvious to him that Emma hadn't been shown the love she deserved, throughout her life; first from her parents, and then from her fiancé. So, he was determined to right that wrong, as soon as he could.

Emma gasped as Killian dropped to his knees before her, to continue placing sweet kisses over her torso. After their passionate encounter in the lounge, she'd been expecting something hot and fast when they made it back to her room. She wasn't expecting the tenderness and care that he seemed determined to show her, before he got anywhere _near_ where she was already wet and aching for him.

Killian kissed his way over Emma's collarbone, and down to her breasts, keeping his attention firmly fixed on the swell of both, and away from her nipples, before he made his way back down, and over the tight muscles of her tummy.

It was when he dipped his tongue into her bellybutton, tickling her gently, that Emma's hips bucked away from the wall he'd somehow, once again, backed her into, without her knowing. "Fuck," she gasped, as she brought one hand down to thread through his hair, and another up to cup her left breast.

Killian smirked a little as he watched her, before he continued his kisses down to tease along the line of black lace around her hips.

Emma was expecting him to pull them down.

She was expecting the brush of his fingers, along her hips.

She wasn't expecting the kiss he placed, over the black lace, just above her clit.

"Oh, God," she groaned. She was so sensitive, that just that one tender touch; the softness of Killian's lips, combined with the roughness of the lace, was one of the most erotic sensations of her entire adult life.

Killian continued his journey down, brushing gentle kisses over the dampness of Emma's panties. He smirked to himself at the way her hips seemed to be moving unconsciously against his face, and how her fingers were making more confident strokes over her breasts.

"Can I take these off?" he asked, as he licked his way back up, and over the lace.

Emma nodded, not trusting her voice in that moment, and arched her hips away from the wall, to help Killian slide them down her legs. He didn't bother taking them all the way off, instead, he let them fall as far as Emma's knees, before he pressed her back, into the wall again.

"You're so wet," he whispered in awe, as he drew one, long finger up through her drenched folds.

Emma's hands flew down to anchor herself, one threading through Killian's hair, and the other gripping his shoulder tightly.

"Is this all for me?" he asked, gently teasing that one digit up and down, over and over.

"Yes," she croaked out. "For you. Only you. Please?" She wasn't even sure what she was begging him for in that moment. Emma just needed _something_ to relieve that pressure building inside of her.

"Stunning," he remarked, before leaning forward to trace the same path his finger had taken, with his tongue.

"Oh, fuck," Emma gasped, screwing her eyes closed. It had felt good over the lace of her underwear. Without that barrier, Killian's mouth felt electric against her skin.

He took his time, gently teasing Emma, first with just the tip of his tongue, before he flattened it out to make long, slow passes over her heated flesh, occasionally stopping to suck gently on her clit. When she was a quivering mess above him, her hips writhing against his mouth, Killian finally eased his index finger into her, stroking her slowly.

"Oh, God," she moaned. " _Please_ …"

"What do you need?" he asked gently.

It might have been their first time together, but Killian wanted to use it to explore Emma's body properly. He wanted to know _exactly_ what it took to make her quiver, and what she needed to help her get to her peak.

"More," she gasped. "Please, I need more."

Killian nodded his understanding, and eased his finger out, to tease along Emma's wet flesh once more, before he slipped two inside of her, to curl gently. "How's that, Beautiful? Too much?"

"No," she confirmed, shaking her head for emphasis. "That's good. That's _really_ good."

"You think you can come for me, like this?" he wondered.

Emma looked down to where she could see his hand, still moving softly inside of her, and shook her head sadly. While it was, by far, one of the sexiest sights she'd ever had the pleasure to witness, she still needed a little something else to tip her over the edge.

"It's okay," Killian reassured her. "I just wanna learn how to make this good for you, Sweetheart. The more you tell me, the faster I learn."

Emma opened her mouth to put a voice to her need, but Killian beat her to it, dipping his head once more to begin sucking gently on her clit. Her hips bucked wildly in response. "Oh, fuck. Yes," she moaned, as she rocked them in time with the fingers he was still pumping in and out of her. "I'm so close."

Killian grazed his teeth gently over Emma's flesh, and that was all it took to send her careening over the edge. He watched as her eyes screwed shut with her pleasure, and her head dropped back against the wall. He didn't think she'd realised that she'd brought her hand back up, to tease around her breasts. But as she came back down, he watched as she continued to gently knead the flesh there, helping to prolong her orgasm, just as he was doing with the slow slide of his fingers, and the gentle, teasing flicks of his tongue.

"You're stunning," he whispered, as he pushed himself up to his feet, to gather her into his arms. Emma was still a little unsteady on her feet, so Killian swept her up, to carry her the short distance to her bed, before setting her down gently.

Emma pulled him down and onto her, not caring at all that he was crushing her slightly, due to their awkward angle. All she knew was that in that moment, she needed him, more than she needed to breath.

Killian couldn't stop himself from grinding down against her, seeking some kind of friction for himself. Watching Emma come apart, under his hands, was one of the most erotic experiences of his own life. And although he'd promised himself, to make this night all about her, he couldn't deny his basic primal need for a release of his own.

"Please," she begged, breaking away from his kisses, to slide her hands over his shoulders, and down into the back of his open jeans. Her own release had left her feeling more confident, and desperate for more of the man in her arms.

As Killian shimmied his way out of his jeans and boxers, Emma kicked off her own panties and heels, before she rolled him over, and onto his back, to straddle his waist. She had deliberately avoided looking below his waist, but Emma could feel the way he brushed against her ass, with every movement of her hips. Instead, she focused her attention on the wet, suckling kisses she was placing over his own torso.

Killian had made her feel so loved and desired with his own actions. She wanted to make sure he knew she felt the same way about him.

When she flicked her tongue experimentally over his nipple, Killian's hips bucked up wildly, grinding his erection into her ass, and they both moaned loudly at the action.

"Jesus, you're perfect," he gasped, as she made her way through his happy trail, rubbing her nose through the soft hair there, as she licked and sucked her way down his body.

Killian stopped her before she could drop any lower.

"As much as I've dreamed of you, doing that," he explained, "If you do, this is going to be over embarrassingly quickly."

Emma let out a small giggle at the thought of just how much she'd managed to affect this beautiful human being, and Killian growled playfully as he surged forward to capture her lips with his, once more.

"You know, it's not nice to laugh at a man, when he's naked underneath you," he explained playfully, as he pulled back.

"Sorry," Emma chuckled. "It's just… It's nice to know I have the same effect on you, as you do on me."

Killian reached for her left hand, placing his over the top of hers, and lacing their fingers together, to slide down his body, until they reached his cock. " _This_ is the effect you have on me, Emma. _Never_ doubt that."

She swallowed hard at the heat burning behind his eyes, with his words, as Killian guided her hand up and down him slowly.

Jesus, he was big.

And hard.

And thick.

Emma had been no virgin before she'd met Neal. And, although their relationship had lacked in many areas, they'd had a fairly satisfying sex life.

But, without even seeing him, she could already tell that Killian was going to stretch and fill her like nobody else ever had before.

"We'll go slow, okay?" he reassured her, as Killian watched the doubt flick behind her eyes. "It's been a while for me, so… it's probably best we do… if you don't want that embarrassingly quick ending."

Emma chuckled again, but nodded her agreement. "For me too," she agreed. Killian looked like he wasn't quite sure he believed her, so she rushed to clarify, "I haven't since I met you. With anyone else, I mean. I've um… I've taken care of myself, obviously."

Killian squeezed his eyes shut at the images his mind was quick to supply, and his cock jumped a little, where they were still slowly stroking him, together. "Did you think about me?" he asked, before he could stop himself.

"Yes. I used to think about you, before we even met."

Killian leaned forward once more, to press his lips eagerly to Emma's as he thought about her words. About how she'd look, spread out across that very bed, with her own fingers buried inside of herself, calling out his name as she came. Or maybe she had a collection of toys she'd use instead. Maybe she'd fuck herself with one of those, pretending it was his cock, as she teased her own breasts, to thoughts of his lips, wrapped around them.

"Emma," he groaned, "I need you. Now."

"Yes," she agreed, sliding back on his thighs to give him some room to move. When she finally dropped her eyes down to watch him, she almost swallowed her own tongue. Their joined hands were still moving slowly up and down his cock, which was glistening in the low light, seeping in from the hall.

"Do I um… do we need anything?" he asked softly, snapping Emma's attention back up to his eyes.

It took her a long moment to clear the lust from her brain enough to realise what he was asking, before she bent over his body, to reach into the draw on the other side of the bed.

The angle gave Killian a fantastic view of her breasts, and he leaned forward to nuzzle at them both, before he began flicking the tip of his tongue over her left nipple.

"Fuck, you're good at that," Emma sighed, as she pulled back with a condom in hand, to cradle his head to her chest.

"You're irresistible," Killian teased, as he took the small foil wrapper from her, to tear open with his teeth. "Delectable," he continued, as he finally released her hand, to steady himself. "Incredible," he added, as he rolled the latex down, and over himself. "Gorgeous," he assured her, as he pulled her back down to him, for another kiss. "Mine," he finished, with a low growl, and a teasing nip of his teeth, to her lower lip.

"Oh, God, yes," Emma agreed. "Yours. Only yours."

Killian allowed himself two strong and confident pumps of his own hand, before he moved his it to settle on Emma's waist. "Are you ready, Sweetheart?" he asked, slipping his right hand round, to brush over her softly.

She was still wet and aching for him, which was exactly what he had hoped to find.

Emma looked a little nervous, but with the guidance of Killian's hand on her hip, she rose up, onto her knees, before carefully sinking down over him.

"Slowly," Killian warned, as he watched Emma's face grimace a little, from the stretch and burn. "We have all night, Sweetheart."

He pulled her forward, until she was close enough to kiss, hoping to help distract her a little, as she adjusted to his size. When Emma moaned into his mouth, tightening her grip on his hair, Killian pushed up a little more, sinking into her easily, as she ground down against him. He carried on that way, using light touches, and tender kisses, to keep her calm and relaxed, as he gently pushed up into her tight heat, until Emma's ass was finally flat against his thighs.

"Oh, God. You're so deep like this," she moaned, bracing her hands on his chest, to rock her hips above him.

Killian found himself gritting his teeth in that moment, as he reached out to still Emma's hips. "Embarrassingly quick," he reminded her, as he fought down the urge to come, that had been building ever since he'd seen her in that skin-tight, black dress. When he finally thought he had a handle on himself, he slipped his hands down Emma's thighs, to encourage her to move once more.

For all their awkwardness that evening, it didn't take them long to settle into an easy routine, of push and pull, with Killian's fingers and lips teasing the flesh of Emma's breasts, as she writhed above him.

"I'm so close," she panted.

He slipped his fingers back down Emma's body, to brush against the place where they were joined, gathering some of her wetness, before he slid them up to rub soft circles around her clit.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," Emma chanted, as her head fell back, and her hips faltered in their rhythm.

"So beautiful," Killian mumbled, as he leaned forward to capture one of her nipples between his teeth.

That was all it took to send Emma sailing over that precipice once more, as she cried out, before she collapsed against his chest, sweaty and sated.

Killian followed soon after, spilling into the latex condom, as he buried his face into Emma's hair, to smother his own unintelligible cries.

* * *

"Ems? You here?" Ruby called out, as she let herself into the apartment. "You're not going to believe the fucking day I've had."

When there was no reply from inside the home, Ruby made her way to Emma's bedroom door, to check on her friend.

She hadn't been expecting the sight that greeted her.

Ruby watched as a very naked Killian Jones, pulled her equally naked best friend into his arms, a little tighter. She smiled to herself, happy to see the lovers reunited once more, before she closed the bedroom door quietly, and headed for the bathroom, to wash off the beer and grease from her day.

* * *

 **Wishing you all a Happy New Year.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	23. Chapter 23

When Emma woke the next morning, it was to the feeling of a strong arm, wrapped around her waist, and a warm body tucked in behind her own.

It was all the proof she needed that the night before hadn't been some kind of wonderful dream, but an actual reality.

"Morning," Killian mumbled, as he nuzzled in closer to her, to press a kiss behind her ear. "Mmmmm, you smell good."

"Good enough to eat?" she teased, before she slapped a hand over her mouth in horror.

She hadn't meant for that to come out the way it did.

Killian pushed himself up onto his left arm, to get a good look at Emma, as a salacious smirk worked its way over his face. "I wouldn't be opposed to that." He dipped his head to press a sweet kiss to her lips, but pulled away with a groan when her phone started blaring out it's alarm.

"Sorry," she mumbled, "I wasn't expecting you, so I set it for my usual time."

"Do you have to work?" he asked, between the kisses he was busy placing over her right shoulder.

"Not until a little later," Emma sighed, as she silenced the device, and rolled onto her back. Killian's head followed her movements, and he started trailing his kisses over her collarbone, and down to her right breast.

"Then, may I suggest we put your suggestion of _eating_ to good use?" He smirked once more, before diving under the covers, in search of his treasure.

Emma let out a loud squeal of delight, as his hands tickled their way up her legs, before it morphed into a moan of desire, when his fingers brushed softly against her sex.

* * *

"Morning," Ruby chirped, as Emma made her way into the kitchen, for some coffee.

She'd left Killian alone to get dressed.

When he'd asked if she would mind him taking a shower, she'd lasted all of four minutes, imagining how he would look wet… and naked, before she'd jumped him.

Again.

"A little sore, are we?" the other woman teased, as she watched Emma wince slightly, as she pulled herself up onto one of the bar stools.

"Fuck off," Emma chuckled. It had been a while since she'd had _that much sex_ in so little time. "Did you know he was coming?" she wondered, as Ruby slid a mug of coffee in front of her friend.

"Who? Killian?" Ruby asked. "Nope. The first I knew of it was when I saw you guys in bed together last night. You make a cute couple, by the way."

"Oh, God! Our night out," Emma suddenly remembered. "I'm so sorry, Ruby. It completely slipped my mind."

"It's okay," the brunette assured her. "I would have forgotten all about it too, with that man naked, and in my bed."

"Morning, Ruby," Killian interrupted, as he made his way through to the kitchen, to place a sweet kiss to Emma's temple. "Big night?"

"Huh?" Emma looked up at him in confusion.

Killian nodded his head towards Ruby, as he explained, "That dress is a little fancy for eight _am,_ isn't it?"

Emma craned her head around the kitchen island, to get a good look at her friend, for the first time that morning. She'd been far too distracted by having Killian in the apartment to realize that Ruby was most definitely still wearing her clothes, from the night before.

"Oh… my… God," she gasped. "You had sex last night."

"Seriously?" Ruby sighed, as she flicked a look over to Killian, and then back to her friend.

"Oh, please, he doesn't know anyone in this town," Emma scoffed, before she continued, "Who was the lucky guy?"

"It was nobody," Ruby replied, as she waved her hand dismissively. But something behind her eyes told Emma that wasn't entirely the truth.

"I could go and give you ladies a few minutes to talk?" Killian suggested, as the atmosphere in the room became a little uncomfortable.

"No, you don't have to do that," Ruby rushed to assure him. "Emma just needs to learn when to _drop the damned subject_."

"Since when have you _ever_ been shy about these kinds of details?" her friend countered. "I mean, if Killian weren't sat here, right now, you'd be asking me about the size of his penis."

Emma's eyes widened instantly, as Ruby and Killian both snorted out a laugh at her comment. "I wouldn't tell her," she hurried to clarify, as she turned to face her boyfriend. "Your secret is completely safe with me. I promise."

"It's okay," he chuckled. "I know that women aren't delicate little flowers that never discuss men, and sex, amongst themselves. Tell Ruby whatever you feel comfortable sharing."

Emma dropped her head down to rest against his shoulder, as Killian pulled her in a little tighter to press a kiss into her hair.

"Ugh. You two are disgusting this early in the morning," Ruby protested fondly.

"And you're stalling," Emma sing-songed. "Come on, Ruby. It can't be as bad as…" She trailed off as an idea slammed its way into her head, and her eyes widened even further. "No?"

"It's not like I meant for it to happen," her friend protested. "It was an accident."

"An accident?" Emma cried, her voice rising in pitch, as her disbelief grew. Killian was busy looking between the two women who seemed to be having an entire conversation, without actually mentioning the subject of it. "Did you just _happen_ to slip and fall on the town doctor's cock?"

"I was drunk," Ruby exclaimed, as if that explained everything. "And he was surprisingly sweet. I didn't hate it… and… I might have given him my number. I sort of asked him to call me, today," she finished, as she chewed on her bottom lip.

"We're both talking about Whale here, right?" Emma clarified. When her best friend nodded her head sheepishly, Emma sighed, before she slipped off her stool to make her way round to where Ruby was stood. "Hey. I love you, you know?" she reminded her. "So, as long as he doesn't mess you around, I don't care who's cock you accidentally fall on."

Killian snorted at Emma's words and both girls threw him a dirty look.

"I'm sorry," he chuckled. "I know this is a touching moment, but that mental image is hilarious. Carry on."

Emma cocked a brow at him, that screamed he'd be paying for that later, before she pulled Ruby in for a hug, that she reserved only for her best friend.

* * *

"Do you um… do you wear that every day?" Killian mumbled, a little tongue-tied as he watched his girlfriend leave her room later that morning, fully dressed and ready for work.

Ruby had excused herself to take a nap, after some gentle teasing from both Killian and Emma, that she probably hadn't done much sleeping the night before.

"What?" Emma asked, looking down at herself. "I told you I didn't wear a uniform, what were you expecting?"

"Oh, I was kinda expecting this," he replied simply. "I just wasn't expecting the sight of my girlfriend, wearing a badge and a gun, to be so fucking sexy."

Emma swallowed down the bolt of lust that shot through her at Killian's words, as she watched him stalk his way over to where she was stood. His hands dropped down to rest against her hips, finding the cuffs she always kept secured there.

"Are these...?" he asked, trailing off as he cocked a brow in her direction.

"No," she croaked out, a little distracted by just how close he was. And that smell, that was so uniquely Killian, that she couldn't seem to get enough of. "I um… I keep those ones in a draw, in my office, at work."

"Huh," was all he said in reply, as he dipped his head to brush a teasingly light kiss to her lips. When he took one long step back, Emma blinked up at him in confusion.

"You're gonna be late for work, Sweetheart," he smirked.

* * *

Emma had been torn, that morning, about going in to work. A large part of her never wanted to leave her bed, given that she'd woken up with a very naked Killian Jones in it. And yet, the more rational part of her mind informed her that calling David to cover for her, would only make her friend suspicious. She had already taken advantage of David's kind nature enough, since she'd first met Killian. So, she sucked it up, and forced herself to get ready for the day.

Thankfully, her new boyfriend was more than happy to agree to accompany her to the station. He made absolutely no effort to hide the excitement that bubbled behind his eyes, at the thought of getting to see a day in Emma's life.

"Well, this is it," she mumbled lamely, as she flicked on the lights in the Sheriff's station. "It's really nothing special."

Killian's eyes widened as he made his way slowly around the room, taking in everything from the height chart, used for photographing those that were arrested; to the two holding cells, at the front of the room; round to the small couch he'd seen in Emma's photos; all the way back to the glass office, tucked at the back of the space, with a plaque reading _Sheriff Emma Swan,_ on the door.

"Are you kidding? This is incredible," he told her, as his eyes continued to roam.

Emma looked like she couldn't quite believe Killian's enthusiasm, so he stopped his careful perusal, to make his way over to stand in front of her.

"Emma," he started, reaching for her hands. Killian waited until she raised her eyes to meet his, before he finally continued. "I know you say your job isn't anything exciting. And, yes, I imagine that compared to a city like New York, it's probably not. But, you are literally a public servant, in one of the most dangerous professions in the world. That might not be exciting to you, but to _me_ , that's incredible. I am _so_ proud of you, Sweetheart. Yet, at the same time, _every day,_ when you tell me you're at work, I'm worried for you. Because, as boring as your job might be ninety percent of the time, it only takes one wrong person to put your life in danger. So, please, stop dismissing this profession as nothing exciting. I can assure you, it provokes more feelings in me than that of _any_ other person's, I have _ever_ met, in my life."

Emma wasn't sure what to say in response to Killian's little speech. Nobody else had ever really looked at her job that way before. Neal used to compare it to nothing more than that of a glorified security guard, and Emma had begun to think of her role, within the community, in much the same way.

She opened her mouth to say something, but when the words simply wouldn't come, she gave up. Instead, she pulled hard on Killian's hands, to tug him in closer, and pressed her lips to his.

Killian seemed a little startled at first, either by the strength of her actions, or the actions themselves, but he quickly let go of her hands, to wrap her up in his arms. One found its way easily to her back, pulling her in as close as he possibly could, as the other slipped into her long blonde hair, to tilt her head and allow him to deepen their kiss.

He finally pulled back with a groan when Emma began gently grinding her hips into his, seeking that pleasurable friction the two of them had found so easily the night before, and earlier that morning.

"Sweetheart," he panted, dropping his forehead down on to hers, as he pressed a kiss to the tip of her nose. "Sweetheart," he repeated, "We have to stop."

"Don't wanna," Emma mumbled, as she tugged at the collar of his shirt, to allow her lips more room to move against his neck.

Killian had woken a greedy beast within her, the night before, and now she couldn't seem to get enough of him.

He took a shuddering breath in, before he stepped back, to put some space between them. "Emma, Love… I have spent _far_ too much time, thinking about _you,_ handcuffing _me,_ to _that_ bed, behind us, and having your way with me, than is healthy. We need to stop this, before someone walks in and sees more of their sheriff than they _ever_ have before. Because I _do not_ share what is mine."

Emma's beautiful green eyes had darkened with every word that left Killian's mouth. He wasn't the only one who'd had fantasies about the cot in her holding cell. And now that he was stood in that room, looking as sinfully good as he always did, with his lips swollen from her kisses, and his hair even more disheveled than usual, the thought of making those fantasies a reality was incredibly tempting.

"I locked the door on the way in," she whispered into the silence of the room.

Killian's eyes widened with shock, before he surged forwards, to capture her lips with his own, once more. This time, he didn't bother trying to control himself. He wanted her, and she wanted him.

He wasn't going to fight that.

Even though his fantasies had always involved being cuffed, at the mercy of his beautiful sheriff-girlfriend, Killian soon had Emma backed into the nearest wall, as his hands roamed under the leather of the jacket she was wearing, while she tilted her head, to give him better access.

"God, I've never wanted anyone as much as I want you," he groaned, as he slipped the leather down her shoulders, to hit the floor with a dull thud.

Emma gasped into Killian's mouth, at his words, as she arched her back away from the wall, to help him lift the sweater she was wearing up and over her head.

"I want you too," she mumbled between sloppy kisses, as Killian's own jacket hit the floor behind him. "I've always wanted you."

As soon as she had the buttons on his shirt open, Killian ripped it off his shoulders, before he reached back to pull the plain, white, cotton t-shirt he wore underneath, over his head.

"You're so fucking beautiful," he praised, as his hands found their way back down to Emma's waist, to start guiding her over in the direction of the holding cell he'd been fantasizing about. "Like some kind of goddess." Emma's head fell back as Killian's kisses began working their way down her chest. "I'd worship you every day if you'd let me."

She gasped as his mouth covered her left nipple, sucking gently through the lace of the bra she's put on only a few hours earlier. Once it was pebbled beneath the fabric, Killian switched his focus to her right breast, making sure it received the same attention.

It was only when his hands dropped to the belt at her waist, that she realized they were missing something. "Wait," she panted out. And Killian froze immediately. "The cuffs," she explained, sensing his wariness at her tone. "They're in my desk drawer."

"Won't these do the same thing?" he asked, as he ran a single finger over the cool metal at her hip.

"Yeah," she confessed, as a blush began to work its way onto her cheeks, "but… I don't think I could ever use them again, knowing that we'd used them, for _this_."

He chuckled a little at the flustered look she wore, as she spoke, before bringing up a hand to gently tease the hair that was framing her face. "How is it that someone as incredibly sexy as you, can be so adorably cute at the same time?" he wondered.

"I've often asked the same about you," Emma mumbled at her feet, before adding quietly, "on Tumblr."

Killian lifted her chin, so her eyes would meet his once more, before he bent to place a kiss to her soft lips. "Go get your cuffs, Sheriff," he instructed, landing a gentle slap to her ass for added effect. "I'm more than ready for my beautiful girlfriend to have her wicked way with me."

Emma turned away to head over to her office, feeling a little dazed. Nobody had ever made her feel as wanted, or desired, as Killian did, and she wasn't used to those feelings.

She turned back to her holding cell when she heard the telltale squeaking of the cot's bed springs, and watched as Killian bounced on it slightly, to test how sturdy it would be. He must have somehow sensed her eyes on him, as he lifted his head to wink in her direction, before he bounced again.

Emma giggled at him, not used to the giddy feelings he was creating inside of her, before she unlocked her office door, and headed over to her desk. Her office had always been a secure place, so she kept a fair few of her most treasured items locked away there.

It had seemed like the most natural place to store what she now came to think of as her Killian Cuffs.

"Do you want me to lock this door?" she asked, tugging on the bars of the cell, as she made her way back over to where her boyfriend was sat watching her.

Killian glanced between the door to the cell she was leaning against, the cuffs dangling from her left hand, and then to his beautiful girlfriend, who was walking around her station wearing nothing but her jeans, a pair of black boots, and a purple lace bra.

She looked absolutely glorious, and it hurt his heart to think that Emma probably didn't even realize it.

"Can we get out again if you do?" he asked cautiously. His head was screaming at him to let her lock them in, and fulfil every small detail of every fantasy he'd _ever_ had, since she'd first mentioned her job to him. But, the more rational side of his brain was warning him not to take things too far. The last thing he wanted to do was end up stuck in the cell with Emma, without their shirts anywhere in sight. He knew that would end up tarnishing a reputation she'd worked hard to build, within her community.

And that was the last thing he wanted for her.

"Maybe it's best if we don't?" she suggested. "I don't wanna have to call David to free us, if, for some unknown reason, it decides to get stuck or something."

"That's absolutely fine by me," he assured her. "Now… come back here. You're too far away."

Emma made sure the door was securely open, before she crossed the distance between them, to drop down next to him, on the bed.

For some reason, whenever he was close, Killian filled her with a confidence that she hadn't felt for years. But, whenever there was distance between the two of them, the doubts started to creep back in.

"You're so beautiful," he whispered, as he ran his fingers gently through her hair, before pulling her in for another kiss.

Given the way their exchange had begun, and what they both knew would be coming next, he was surprisingly tender, as Killian tilted her head to deepen the kiss, while running his free hand gently up her leg, and over her hip.

He allowed Emma to control things from there, letting her slide her leg over his, to straddle his lap, when the need within her began to build. He let her push him back, onto the bed, when their kisses deepened, and grew in desperation. When she started rocking gently above him, searching for some kind of relief, he settled his hands onto her hips, to help guide her movement.

"I want you," Emma panted, as she reluctantly pulled away from his lips, for air.

"You have me," Killian assured her, while his hands slid down from her hips, to cup her ass. "You have me for as long as you want me."

Emma's own hands slipped down to his belt, undoing it with surprisingly nimble fingers, before she turned her attention to his fly. Killian followed her lead, and brought his own hands round to begin work on the button on Emma's jeans. When he realized that he wasn't going to be able to pull them off, thanks to her boots, he twisted his body away from hers slightly, to get her attention. "Stand up, Love. You're gonna need to finish the rest of this yourself."

Emma looked confused by Killian's request, until his tapped the knuckles of his left hand against the leather of her boot. She giggled a little, before sliding gracefully off him, to sit on the tiny space left at the side of the bed, and pull off the rest of her clothing. As she did, she heard the telltale sounds of the bed creaking again, which told her Killian was busy removing what little he was still wearing.

She didn't look back until all that was left were her purple lace bra, and matching panties, (that Ruby might have talked her into buying, after their Vegas trip). When she did, she found her boyfriend wearing only his black boxers, spread out gloriously over the crappy cot bed, in the cell.

"Look at you," he whispered, as he reached out a finger, to trace the edges of her bra. "You don't even realize how beautiful you are, do you?"

"Do you?" Emma countered, in an attempt to distract him.

"When you look at me like that, I do," he confessed. It wasn't a lie, either. The way she looked at him, with such awe and reverence, left him feeling handsome and treasured in a way nobody else had ever managed before.

Killian pushed himself up, onto his forearms, to lean in and bring their lips together once more. Emma didn't hesitate to deepen their kiss, pushing on his chest to encourage him to lay back on the bed, so she could slide herself into his lap.

It was only when she started to rock against him, that Killian broke free from her lips, to begin trailing kisses down her neck, and over her collarbone. Emma was so distracted by the way his mouth felt against her heated skin, that she didn't notice the cuffs he'd reached for, until he pulled back, to dangle them between the two of them.

"You _really_ want this, don't ya?" she chuckled, as she pushed her hair back and away from her face.

"Oh, you have no idea," he agreed.

Emma took the cuffs from him, as she slid back on his lap, making them both a little more comfortable, and a little less distracted. She'd cuffed a fair number of people in her time, as a law enforcement officer, but never someone she cared for, like she cared for Killian.

"How do you want me?" he asked. His eyes seemed to darken further at the sight of her, sat astride him, in nothing but lingerie, holding a pair of handcuffs.

"Arms straight up and grab the bar above your head," she instructed, slipping easily into that sheriff persona.

Killian groaned at her tone, as arousal flooded his system. He was moving before she'd even finished speaking, reaching up to grasp the horizontal bar that made up the cot's pathetic excuse for a headboard. Emma took a moment to let him shuffle down the bed a little, to make sure he was comfortable, before she leaned forward to secure him in place.

"Tell me if they're too tight?" she requested softly, as the first one came down on his wrist. The harsh metal felt shockingly cold on his overheated skin. "These aren't those fur-lined cuffs most people use. If you pull too hard on them, they're gonna bruise."

Killian nodded his understanding, but Emma wasn't really sure he'd heard a word she'd said. Especially when she felt him sucking gently on her breast, through the fabric of her bra.

"Jesus," she panted out. He was _far_ too good at that.

It took everything in her to make sure she stayed focused enough to wrap the small chain of the cuffs under the bar, before bringing the second one down over Killian's left wrist, leaving his hands bound to the bed. "How does that feel?" she asked softly.

Killian pulled gently on the restraints with his arms, testing just how far he could move. When he realized that they left him fairly immobile, from the waist up, he sucked a little harder on Emma's nipple, and she groaned in response, fisting her hand in his hair, to pull him away.

"I need you to talk to me," she told him gently. "I've never done this to someone I care about before. Are they too tight?"

"They're fine," Killian assured her. "I _trust you_ , Emma. Trust yourself."

The sound of the cuffs pulling on the bed caught her attention, and she realized that he'd tried to move his hands, to finish what he'd started with his mouth, when she'd become too lost in her own thoughts. "You're too far away," he whined.

Emma chuckled at the pout on his lips, before she released her grip on his hair, to push him back down onto the bed. "Behave," she warned, as she lowered her lips down to his.

Killian kissed her back with a ferocity and passion she hadn't seen before, and Emma soon found herself lost in him once again. She didn't feel like she was at the station, on it's hard cot, chilly from the lack of heat in the old building, and only dressed in her underwear.

All she felt was wanted… and confident… and powerful.

"Off," Emma gasped, as she reached down between them, to palm at the bulge still hidden by Killian's boxers. "You need to take these off."

The rattling of metal-on-metal caught her attention once more, and she giggled again at the look of frustration on Killian's face, when he remembered that with his hands bound, he couldn't do as she had instructed.

Emma slid off him once more, to pull the black fabric down his legs just far enough, for Killian to finish kicking them off.

"What should I do with you now?" she teased, running a hand down the center of his chest. She loved the way his muscles jumped under such a light touch, and the look of pure desire that burned behind his eyes, with every move she made.

Killian had put his trust in her completely, and Emma felt powerful and confident in a way that her job had _never_ made her feel before.

"Anything," he panted. "Everything," he begged.

Emma shot him a sly smirk of her own, as she bent down to kiss the tip of his cock.

"Fuck me," he gasped. He hadn't expected her to be so bold.

"We're getting to that," she promised, before gently sucking him into her mouth.

 _This_ was what she had fantasized about, during those long nights, after their many calls. The way he'd feel in her mouth, hot and heavy against her tongue, as she took her time to learn every ridge and dip of his flesh. The way he would twitch, as she gently grazed her teeth over the underside of him, before soothing the sensitive skin with broad strokes of her tongue. The way his entire body jumped, when she sucked a little harder on the tip, before sliding him back as far as she could. And the way he tasted, as he leaked against her tongue, when she began gently teasing his perineum.

It didn't take her long to find a pattern that had Killian writhing on the bed, pulling at his restraints in frustration, as he panted out how beautiful Emma looked, with his cock in her mouth.

When he started twisting on the sheets, begging for her to stop, Emma knew how close he was. In a moment of wicked spontaneity, she took one deep breath in, before sliding him as far down her throat as she could.

"Shit!" Killian cursed, his back arching off the bed, as he came harder than he had the day he'd first discovered pornography, as a teenager.

Emma gently licked him clean, before she pulled back to drop her head down onto his stomach, while he came down from his high. When he began tugging once more at his restraints, she pushed herself up to place a kiss to the space where she knew his heart would still be beating wildly.

Killian sucked in a deep breath at the action, and her eyes flew up to meet his.

For the longest of moments, they remained locked together that way.

Killian's chest was heaving as he lay spread out over the bed, restrained at her mercy. Emma's own heart was racing at the look building in his eyes, that had lightened the instant her lips had brushed against his chest.

"Kiss me," he finally begged, craning his head as far forward as he could, to meet her lips with his own.

Emma forgot the rest of her plans for him, as she leaned down to do as he'd asked. She lost herself quickly to the feelings that Killian was pressing into every brush of his lips against her own.

When he started gently rocking into her again, hardening against her thigh, Emma wiggled her hand between them to tease herself a little, before she took him firmly in hand.

"Jesus Christ," he barked out, when he realized what she'd done to find some form of lubrication for him, in that cold damp cell. "I need you," he begged.

"Soon," Emma promised, as she made confident strokes over his rigid flesh. She was hypnotized by the way he thrust up, into her fist, with each of her moves.

"Now," he begged. "Emma, please, Love?"

She pulled back a little, intent on teasing him some more, given how much he'd begged to be at her mercy.

But the look in his eyes stopped her dead.

This wasn't just about some slightly kinkier sex for him. This was something _much_ more than that.

"Okay," she agreed softly, moving to straddle his waist once more. She couldn't seem to break that connection between the two of them. So, Emma held his eyes, as she pushed aside her own panties, and then sank down over him, in one fluid motion.

"Holy fuck," she gasped, as she did.

They'd had plenty of sex since the night before… but this was something different. She could feel it in the way the atmosphere had changed in the room, and in the way that he was looking up at her.

She could feel it echoing, deep within her heart.

Before he could move, Emma leaned forward to open the lock on either side of the cuff's freeing Killian's hands. In that moment, what she needed most was to feel his arms around her.

She half expected him to protest. But, instead, Killian surged forward, pulling Emma even tighter into his lap, to hold her close. "You're so stunning," he whispered, into what little space there was between them. He wrapped one arm around her waist, to help guide her movements, and allowed the other to play through her hair. "I can't believe you're mine."

"Yours," she assured him, as she moved fluidly in his arms. The change in their positions had done wonderful things to the angle at which Killian was sliding into her, and Emma was gasping with each and every move she made. "I only want you."

It didn't take long for the two of them to come together. Their foreheads were pressed against each other's, as they panted out their releases between delicate kisses, tender caresses, and whispered promises.

Emma allowed her head to drop down to rest on Killian's shoulder, as she caught her breath. She was sure the position wasn't exactly comfortable for him, but he didn't protest. He just pulled her in tighter, to run a soothing hand through her hair, as he waited for her breathing to calm.

When she finally pulled back, Killian looked like he wanted to say something, but the words just wouldn't come. Instead, he poured everything that he felt he couldn't yet say to her, into the sweetest kiss she'd ever had.

Emma could feel that bond between the two of them. The one that had always been present, since the moment they'd first met. The one that flared hot and bright, whenever they were alone.

But now, it seemed to be deepening. Deepening into something that both excited and terrified her, in equal measures.

Because Emma Swan had _never_ felt that way before, in her entire life.

"Don't," Killian begged, as he pulled away just enough to whisper the words between them. His lips brushed against hers with each one spoken. "Don't pull away from me."

"Don't hurt me?" she pleaded in reply.

Killian pulled her in impossibly tight, as he whispered, "never," to her, over and over, until Emma finally drifted to sleep, in his arms.


	24. Chapter 24

"So, when do I get to meet your partner?" Killian asked casually, as he pulled on his t-shirt.

He'd let Emma sleep for an hour, in his arms, until he'd decided it was probably time to wake her. He knew that he'd kept her awake for most of the evening, and that she could probably do with a few extra hours of sleep, as a result of that. But, he didn't want to leave her too long, just in case an emergency came up, and she was needed.

"David?" she asked, as she hunted through her desk for the spare brush she kept in there, to try and tame her hair. "He has the weekend off," Emma explained. "His mother's in town visiting, so he wanted to be home for that. She's been sick recently, and he's been covering enough for me, so, taking his shift was the least I could do."

Killian made his way over to the desk his button-down had been thrown over, and as he picked it up, he crouched down to get a good look at the pictures his shirt had been covering. There was one of a man and woman he didn't recognize, stood together on their wedding day, smiling widely for the camera. Just behind that was one of a small baby, wearing a blue onesie that read _Mommy's Little Miracle._ And to the left of that was one of Emma and Ruby, with the two people from the first image, in some kind of club, (if the dark lighting of the shot was anything to judge by).

"This is David, I presume?" he asked, nodding his head to the pictures on the desk.

"Yeah," Emma called back.

"He's handsome," Killian pressed.

"He's also happily married," Emma threw back at him, smirking slightly. "And he's like a brother to me. So… you really have nothing to worry about."

"Am I that obvious?" he sighed, as he finished buttoning his shirt, and turned to search for his jacket. He found it a couple of feet away, crumpled up on the floor.

"A little," she chuckled. "But, let's be honest… if _anyone_ here has anything to worry about, it's me."

Killian scoffed at that statement, as he made his way through to Emma's office, for the very first time. "You have _nothing_ to worry about," he assured her, pulling her back into his chest, for a hug. "You're the most beautiful girl in the world to me, remember?" He punctuated his statement with a sweet kiss to Emma's neck.

She giggled a little at the way his stubble tickled her, before reluctantly pushing him away. "Do me a favor and go and unlock the door, Casanova?"

"Your wish is my command." Killian bowed for added effect, making Emma giggle once more, before he left the room to head back to the front entrance. He loved the sound of her laugh, and Killian promised himself to make it his mission to hear it as often as possible, that weekend.

When the door was unlocked, he made his way back to Emma's office, to watch as she began her usual routine for the day. Emma took some time to show him some of the paperwork she had been working on, and how the filing system worked to comply with state law. She offered him a small tour around the evidence room the station had, and showed Killian some of the more interesting items that were housed in it. She even explained their system for logging calls, before placing one from her cell, to the Station, to give Killian the chance to answer the phone himself.

"You need a new coffee maker," he grimaced, as he attempted to sip from the mug she'd made for them, later that morning. "This stuff is vile."

"I think this one's older than me," Emma mused. "I guess I've been drinking it for so long, I don't really notice how awful it is."

"I'm never gonna complain about the coffee on set again," Killian mumbled.

Emma giggled a little at his dramatics, before closing the file she'd been working on. "Do you maybe wanna head to Granny's, for a spot of early lunch? That's the best place for coffee in town."

"Sure," Killian agreed, tipping the poor excuse for a drink into the nearest plant pot, as soon as Emma had turned her back. "As long as it's not gonna cause any problems for you?"

"It'll be fine," she assured him. "Besides, no offence, Killian, but I doubt anybody else in this town is gonna know who you are."

* * *

Emma was glad that they had decided to head to the small café when they did. She knew the town well enough to know that ten _am,_ on a Saturday morning, was one of its quietest times, before the lunch rush began and the place became too packed to sit in. It was her favourite time to visit, because it often gave her the time to just sit and eat with Ruby for a while, before her friend became too busy to say more than a passing 'hi' and 'bye.'

It would also give Emma the best chance to avoid the Storybrooke gossip mill.

While she wasn't ashamed of Killian, she also wasn't quite ready for the entire town to know she was dating again. There was no way that kind of news wouldn't make it back to Neal and his father. And she certainly wasn't ready for either of them to pop her happy little bubble, just yet.

Thankfully, when she and Killian entered the small diner, hand-in-hand, there were only two other customers inside of it.

Emma had been expecting to see Archie there. He usually timed his sessions to make sure he'd arrive just before the rush began, much like she did. He gave her a small head-bob, to acknowledge her arrival, before turning his attention back to his newspaper. The other person was Mr. Clarke, who was almost at the end of his own lunch and paper, and not at all bothered by the tinkling of the bell over the door.

"Hey guys," Ruby called out, as she made her way through from the backroom, to stand before them. "How are you finding sleepy Storybrooke?" she asked Killian.

"It's nice. Quiet and picturesque. A little like home. I like it here."

Emma and Ruby shared a look that clearly said they thought he was insane, before Ruby asked, "Coffee or Cocoa?"

"Cocoa, please," Emma replied, sliding onto one of the stools at the counter. "Killian?"

"Coffee for me, please. The stuff Emma was trying to pass off as coffee at the station was dreadful. I need something strong to wash the taste of that away."

Ruby nodded her head in understanding, and was turning for the coffee machine before he had finished speaking. "I've been telling them to get a new one for _years_ now. I swear, she and David have lead stomachs."

"We're just not a picky as you two are," Emma chuckled, reaching over the counter for one of the menus she knew were stored there. "It's not the fanciest food in the world, but Granny's an excellent home cook," she explained, as she handed it over for Killian to browse.

"Damn straight I am," Granny called out, from the kitchen.

"She also has ears like a wolf," Emma teased, as the older woman came bustling out of the kitchen, with a towel slung over one shoulder, and her glasses askew.

"Well now, who is this handsome lad?" she asked, leaning against the counter to get a better look at Killian.

"Um, Granny, this is Killian. Killian this is Granny," Emma introduced.

"It's nice to meet you, Killian." The older woman offered her hand for shaking, and like the gentleman he was, Killian didn't hesitate to take it.

"It's lovely to meet you too," he told her. "Emma and Ruby both speak so highly of you."

"Do they now?" she asked, looking between the two sheepish girls at the counter. "I'd like to say the same of you, but neither one of them has ever mentioned you before."

Emma started choking a little on the cocoa Ruby had sat in front of her, and Killian turned his attention away from Granny, and back to his girlfriend. When her face had finally returned to its natural color, and she was no longer gulping in air, he turned back to face the older woman.

"That would be my fault," he explained. "Our relationship's pretty new, and I kind of sprung this visit on her, this weekend."

Emma slid a hand on to his thigh, to give it a grateful squeeze. She hadn't been deliberately keeping their relationship a secret. She just liked knowing that only the three of them were truly aware of the situation.

"And where are you visiting from?" Granny asked. "The accent doesn't sound local."

"Ha." Killian chuckled nervously, as he brought a hand up to scratch behind his ear. "I'm originally from Ireland, but I'm up in Vancouver for work right now."

Granny nodded to show that she'd heard him, before she asked the inevitable, "And what do you do for work, Killian?"

"You know what?" Ruby jumped in, "I think that's enough of the third degree today. You're gonna scare poor Killian away. How about we show him why everyone raves about your lasagna instead?" she asked.

Granny looked between the three people gathered around the counter, before she turned on her heels to head back into the kitchen. "It was nice to meet you, Killian," she called over her shoulder.

Emma had a feeling that Granny would raise the issue again, when Killian had left town.

* * *

The rest of their lunch passed by without incident. Granny remained in the kitchen, making preparations for the afternoon rush, and only poked her head out to say goodbye, when Emma and Killian left. Ruby spent most of her shift asking how they'd spent their morning, and texting Victor, to make plans for the night ahead.

"Did you maybe wanna go out this evening?" Emma asked, as they made their way back through the station, flicking the lights on once more. She'd planned for the two of them to binge something on Netflix, when they got back to her apartment. Emma loved the idea of just curling up in Killian's arms, on her sofa, with a takeaway. But, after hearing Ruby speak about her date for the night, she was worried that after a boring day at work, Killian would want to do more than spend a boring night at home with her.

"Aren't you on call?" he worried. Killian didn't much care how they spent their evening. All he cared about was spending it with Emma. He just didn't want it to happen at the expense of her job.

"Yeah, but you've seen this town. There won't be much to deal with if anything goes wrong. And, as long as I don't drink too much, it'll be fine."

"Then, I would love to take you out this evening," Killian replied, pulling her into his arms.

"Technically, I'd be the one taking you out," Emma argued, as she slid her hands over his shoulders, to play with the hair at the nape of his neck. "I mean, I'm the only one of us with _any_ knowledge of this town."

"Semantics," he teased, leaning in to press the sweetest of kisses to her lips. When he pulled back, it was with a heavy sigh. But they both knew anything more than that would lead to even less work being achieved that day.

"Is there anything else you wanna see before I get started on these reports?" Emma asked, worrying her bottom lip. "I don't want you to get bored."

"I can keep myself entertained, don't worry," he promised her. "But… I do have the perfect idea of how to do so."

She raised a brow in question as Killian fiddled with his phone, before handing it over to her. He then jogged round to stand in front of the height chart, on the wall by the door.

"Take my picture for me? I wanna send it to my brother, and tell him I've been arrested?"

Emma couldn't help the giggle that left her at the excited bounce he put behind his words. "If you're gonna do that, you're gonna have to do it right," she told him, pulling out the small board they used to list the details of the individuals they arrested.

"See. _This_ is why you're perfect for me," Killian teased, as he watched her fill out the board, before handing it over to him.

Emma took a couple of pictures from each angle, so that Killian could choose the best ones to send to his brother, before she closed out of the app. She was just about to hand the phone over to him, when she noticed his choice of wallpaper.

Killian had set it to one of the very first photo op they'd shared together, all those months ago. It was the same picture Emma used as her profile picture on Facebook, and as her lock screen on her own phone.

"It's still my favourite," he whispered, as he watched her stare at his phone for the longest moment. "You looked so beautiful that day. There was _no way_ I'd have ever been able to forget about you, Emma."

Emma's hand trembled as she locked the phone, and passed the small device back to Killian.

She was too emotional to say anything in reply.

* * *

While Killian busied himself sending the pictures she'd taken to his brother, with a demand for bail money, Emma attempted to finish the paperwork she had sitting on her desk.

It was a little hard for her to focus, however, with Killian sat in her office, looking like he was modeling some kind of new casualwear line, with the way he was draped across his chair.

When she finally slammed shut the file on the first case she'd been working on, over an hour had passed, and Emma was losing her patience.

"How about we call it a day?" she asked.

"Isn't it a bit early for that?" Killian wondered, locking his phone and slipping it onto the desk between them.

Emma glanced back to the clock on her computer screen once more, and cringed. It really was too early for them to leave, but she wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to concentrate on anything else for the rest of the day either. Staying would just lead to more frustration, for both of them.

"I'm the Sheriff," she reasoned, "Who's gonna stop me?"

Killian righted himself in his seat, before he leaned forward to meet Emma's eyes. "I don't wanna get you into any trouble," he told her. "I know I kinda sprung this visit on you, and you didn't get any time to make plans for it. But, the _last_ thing I wanna do, while I'm here, is damage the reputation you have in town."

"You won't," Emma assured him, reaching forward to cup his right cheek. She was touched at just how much Killian seemed to care about the smaller things in her life. Neal wouldn't have hesitated to demand she take the afternoon off, on the rare occasions where he had made plans for the two of them. "As long as I'm reachable at all times, I don't need to be here. But, if it's okay with you, I'd like to just do a quick patrol around the town, to make sure everything's okay?"

"Of course," he agreed, standing up to stretch out the kinks that had worked their way into his muscles, from being sat in such an uncomfortable chair, for so long. Of course, Killian would never tell Emma that. "You okay?" he asked, as he noticed her eyes glaze over slightly.

Emma shook her head firmly to clear it, before croaking out a, "Yep. Fine." She turned around to start gathering up her stuff, and mumbled, "Does he have to look like a freaking god with everything he does?" into her bag.

Killian's chuckles came from much closer than she had expected, as he wrapped his arms around her waist, to pulled her back into his chest. "Trust me, Love. I've been feeling the same way about you, _all day_."

The sweet kiss he placed to her neck had Emma melting back into his embrace.

* * *

A quick drive around the town showed that everything was as it was supposed to be, so Emma didn't hesitate to turn the car around, and head home.

The moment she had the door to her apartment shut behind the two of them, she pounced, pushing herself up onto her toes, as she pulled Killian's head down to meet her lips.

Killian returned her kisses fiercely, as he backed his girlfriend into the door, with the force of his passion. "How long do we have until Ruby returns?" he asked, as Emma broke free of his mouth, to begin nipping her way across his collar bone, and up behind his ear.

"A couple of hours," she whispered, before biting down gently on the lobe. She quickly sucked it into her mouth, to soothe the sting with her tongue, as Killian rocked his hips into hers.

"I wonder how many times I can make you come before she does?" he pondered, as he hoisted his giggling girlfriend up, into his arms, to carry her through the loft and back to her bedroom.

* * *

"Hey," Ruby greeted, as she made her way through the door later that evening. A quick scan of the apartment showed her roommate missing, so she asked, "Where's Emma?"

"She got a call about a missing dog?" Killian explained, just as confused by the content of the call as he was amused by it. Unfortunately, at the time it had come through, he'd been busy trying to wring orgasm number four from his girlfriend's exhausted, and hyper-sensitive, body. So, it had been less amusing to him then.

"Mr. Tanner?" Ruby chuckled, as she dropped down on the other side of the couch Killian was sat on. At the nod of his head, she explained, "I thought so. The dog gets out about once a month, and Emma has to track her down. We don't really have an animal control here, and the shelter's already understaffed, so they call Emma." After a moment of thought she added, "They actually call Emma for pretty much anything that goes wrong in this town."

"Makes sense," Killian snorted. He'd heard a few of Emma's tales about her more exciting days, and none of them were what he'd class as true police work.

"Hey, Ruby," he began suddenly. "You don't mind me being here, do you? It's just occurred to me that in surprising Emma, the way I did, I've kinda imposed myself on you too."

"Of course not," she assured him. "I'm glad you did turn up. Emma told me about how you suggested seeing each other, outside of the conventions, on the flight back from Vegas. But, she was so worried you'd either change your mind, or had just said it to make her happy, that she _never_ would have taken the initiative to come to you. At least this way, she can see how serious you are about her."

"Of course I am," he scoffed. "I don't understand why she can't see just how crazy I am about her."

"Has she told you about her parents?" Ruby asked, twisting in her seat to face Killian at the other end.

"Yeah," he confirmed, mirroring her position.

"Well, when you spend all of your life, growing up thinking your parents didn't even love you enough to care if you lived or died, that kinda knocks a person's confidence. She bounced through the foster system, believing she'd never been good enough for a real family, and being picked on by the other kids, because she was always the outsider. It's hard to shake a lifetime of those feelings."

"I get that. I guess I'll just have to keep making sure she knows how much she's loved." Killian had been aiming for a light and breezy tone, but it definitely didn't come across that way.

"Do you?" Ruby asked, fixing him with an intense stare. "Love her?" she clarified, at his confused brow quirk.

"Um…" Killian brought his hand up to scratch nervously behind him ear, searching for some kind of response. He didn't want to lie to Emma's best friend. But he also didn't want to discuss it with Ruby, before he'd had a chance to speak with Emma about it. "I think that's probably a discussion Emma and I need to have, before you and I do," he eventually settled on.

Ruby nodded her understanding, before standing up and stretching a little. "You're good for her," she offered. "You make Emma smile in a way that we haven't seen for a long time. As long as that doesn't change, you're always welcome here, Killian."

She had intended to leave their conversation at that point, but stopped when he asked quietly, "Was _he_ really all that bad?"

Killian did his best to never think about the fiancé he'd stolen Emma away from. He didn't much like the thought of imagining his girlfriend with someone else, let alone the idea that if they'd met a year later, she would have been a married woman, by then. Occasionally his thoughts slipped to the lucky guy who'd been with her before him, and he often found himself wondering just how bad their relationship really had been, for everyone to be so happy Emma had moved on.

"He wasn't _that_ bad," Ruby sighed. "I mean, he didn't beat her, or abuse her, or anything like that. He just… he wasn't right for her. And instead of walking away, he used her. Loving people doesn't come easy to Emma. It takes her a while to warm up to someone, and even longer to trust them enough to care for them. Neal was the first guy to show an interest in her, beyond wanting to get his dick wet. He pursued her, and at the time, he was really sweet about it. Once Emma gave him that chance, I think she fell for him quickly. And I do believe they both loved each other, at one point. But, over time, they fell out of love, and instead of breaking things off, they just carried on as normal. Emma was too scared to kick him out, because she didn't want to be alone again. And Neal didn't end things because… well, why would he?" Her laugh was a little bitter, and Killian could understand why. He'd heard her stories before. "Neal moved in here and did nothing. Emma worked; she paid all of their bills; she cooked all of their meals; and did all the grocery shopping. She kept the apartment clean and tidy, and even did all of the laundry. Neal had an easy life, and he wasn't willing to give it up."

"So… why did she kick him out?" Killian asked. He'd heard Emma's brief explanation, but he had a feeling Ruby's would give him a little more information about his girlfriend.

This time, Ruby's laugh was a little lighter, as she cocked a brow in his direction. "You mean, besides the fact that she was falling hard and fast for you?" Killian nodded his head sheepishly and Ruby added, "Because he implied that someone like _you_ would _never_ be interested in someone like her."

"Fuck me," Killian sighed, as he flopped back into the sofa cushions.

Suddenly, Emma's self-doubts and lack of confidence made so much more sense to him.

The one person she'd put her love and trust into had not only abused that trust, by cheating on her; but he'd also picked on those very same doubts and insecurities she already had.

Neal had used Killian as a way to hurt the woman he claimed to have loved. And, in the process, he'd created doubts in Emma that she would _never_ be good enough for someone like him.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	25. Chapter 25

"Oh, thank god you're here," Emma sighed, as she closed the door softly behind her.

Ruby looked around the empty room, as if to confirm that her friend was talking to her, before asking, "What's up, Ems?"

"I bought a new dress. Just now. And I need you to tell me if it's okay for a date with Killian tonight."

"Oh, I can definitely do that." Ruby was always the more fashion conscious of the two of them. "Go try it on."

"Can I use your shower first? I think Killian's in mine, and if I see him wet and naked again, I'm not gonna be able to resist him. And to be totally honest, I'm not sure how much more sex my body can handle this weekend. I mean, I don't think I've _ever_ had this much sex before, and he's so _big,_ and so passionate, and…"

"Well, that's far more than I ever thought I'd wanna know," Ruby interrupted. "Go take a shower, and gimme a shout when you're done."

Emma had managed to find Mr. Tanner's dog, Phoenix, rather quickly. She usually escaped to the same place, which made bringing her home so much easier, every time it happened. But, after Mr. Tanner had offer his most sincere thanks, and a promise to try and make sure it never happened again, Emma had found herself facing a small meltdown, in the car.

She only owned two dresses suitable for a date night, both of which Killian had seen her in before. So, after calming herself down, Emma finally decided to detour over to the only boutique store in town, that Ruby would ever shop in, and had spent well over an hour browsing through their range, hoping to find something suitable for her date.

After coming up empty handed one too many times, Ariel, the owner of the store, took pity on her, and searched her newest delivery for something she thought the Sheriff would like. Together, they managed to settle on a red dress, that cost Emma more than half her closet did, combined.

Unfortunately, now she had it home, she was starting to doubt her choice once again.

Emma showered as quickly as she could, making sure to shave, buff, and moisturize everything she'd missed that morning, with Killian's distracting hands and lips all over her skin. When she left the bathroom, it was to find Ruby already sat on the bed waiting for her, with the red dress laid out beside her.

"You could have at least waited until I put some underwear on," Emma chuckled.

"It's nothing I've not seen before, Ems. This dress is gorgeous, by the way. Where did you find it?"

"That little place where you get your stuff from. It seemed like the best place to find something Killian-worthy for the night." Emma turned her back to shimmy on her black lace panties, underneath her towel, before she dropped it to slip into her bra. Ruby might have seen everything before, but that didn't mean Emma needed to flaunt it.

"You think it's gonna to be fancy enough?" she asked, as Ruby held out her hairdryer, already anticipating her friend's needs.

"Definitely. It's all about what you do to dress it up," she explained. "If I were you, I'd pull my hair back, and add a nice pair of earrings. Those black leather pumps I got you, for your birthday, will work perfectly with this. Killian's gonna be drooling into his risotto all night."

"Well… as long as I don't look ridiculous, I'll be happy," Emma chuckled. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for your own date?"

Ruby looked down at the time on her phone, before springing up from the bed. "Shit. Yes. Thank you." She was out of the room, with the bathroom door closed, and locked behind her, before Emma could say anything else.

Killian was already dressed and ready when Emma snuck out of Ruby's room, to finish doing her hair and makeup. He was sat on her small sofa, flicking through Netflix, and once more looking like he was ready to shoot some kind of fashion campaign.

She hadn't realized she was staring, until his own eyes snapped up to meet hers, before dropping down the length of her body. "Jesus, Emma. Do you usually walk around the house like that?"

It took her a moment to realize that she was still only wearing her bra and panties, given how distracting he looked – fully dressed.

"No," she whispered back. "I um… I guess I should go and get dressed?" She was having a hard time pulling her eyes away from the V-neck on Killian's white t-shirt, that left his chest hair peeking out enticingly.

Hair that she knew from experience was a lot softer than she ever imagined it would be.

Hair that she so badly wanted to run her fingers through.

"If you wanna leave this apartment tonight, you should go now, Emma," he warned darkly, as he clenched his fists at his side, to stop himself reaching out for her.

Emma swallowed hard at the lust she could see burning behind his eyes. A part of her wanted to say, 'fuck the dinner,' and instead spend her night happily feasting on his body. But a larger part of her knew that their relationship wasn't just about sex. And leaving the house, on an actual date, was a big part of that.

Besides, for the first time in years, Emma was looking forward to a simple meal at Marco's place. Usually, the only times Neal would take her there were when his father had asked them to join him, for one celebration, or another. And Emma still couldn't shake the creepy vibe she got around their town mayor.

When she finally left the bedroom, it was fully dressed, with her hair pulled back into a sleek ponytail, and her bangs just falling over her left eye.

"You look incredible," Killian praised, as he stood to meet her in the middle of the lounge. "I feel underdressed."

"I know I said it wasn't an overly fancy place," she replied, "But I wanted to make an effort. For you."

Killian took the one step forward he needed to be within reaching distance, before settling his hands onto her hips, as he beamed down at her. "You didn't need to go to any effort for me," he assured her. "But I appreciate it."

He leaned down to brush a sweet kiss across her lips, but pulled back before either of them could turn it into something more.

"Okay, Jones," Emma chuckled breathlessly, "Let's go… before one of us changes our mind."

* * *

Marco's restaurant was only a short walk from Emma's loft, which the couple made in comfortable silence. Emma was enjoying just being in Killian presence, while she could. Neither of them had mentioned his return to Vancouver, but Emma knew it was a conversation they needed to have over dinner. She'd already done the math. She knew how long it would take for him to fly back, so she knew their time together was rapidly coming to an end.

However, she had promised herself not to dwell on it that evening.

Marco greeted Emma and Killian the moment they entered the restaurant, and after Emma made some brief introductions, he didn't hesitate to show them to the best table in the building, before bustling away to fetch them some menus and refreshments.

"This is a nice little place," Killian commented, as he had a quick look around. The room was dark enough to offer each table some privacy, but not so dark that you couldn't see what you were doing. The music set a wonderful atmosphere, but wasn't too loud that you couldn't hear each other speak. And every server who passed by their table offered their town Sheriff a small smile, before carrying on, without interrupting her date. "You downplayed it."

"Well, this is Storybrooke," Emma chuckled. "Most everything here is downplayed."

"It's nice to be out with you in public, without having to worry about being interrupted by fangirls," Killian explained. "I hate hiding you away, but I don't wanna risk exposing you to any kind of crazy, given how far away from me you live, and the job you do."

Emma reached over the table to take Killian's hands into her own, as she offered him a gentle smile. "I don't mind you keeping me hidden away. To be honest, I'm not sure I'm ready for the crazy that comes with your life. I've had a taste of that at the conventions, and it can be a little… overwhelming," she finally settled on. "But… that doesn't mean I will always feel that way."

"Let me know the moment you're ready to make this public, and I swear, I'll shout it from every platform I can," Killian assured her.

The two broke apart when Marco returned, with a bottle of his best wine in his arms, as a gift for the Sheriff, and her date. He opened it up to offer them both a glass, before making his retreat once more, to allow his servers to take their orders.

"So, you never did tell me what your brother's response to those pictures was," Emma prodded, as she settled back into her seat.

Killian reached into the pocket of his jeans, to pull out his phone, and load his brother's messages. "Yeah, he wasn't buying it," he chuckled. "Apparently, Liam's more intelligent than anyone gives him credit for." He slid the small device over the table, and Emma picked it up to read the exchange he'd left open for her.

 **Yeah right, Dude.**

 **Since when did they start allowing inmates that one free text message, instead of a call?**

 **Nice set, though.**

 **You ALMOST had me.**

"Did you explain that you were in a real Sheriff's station?" she asked, as she offered his phone back to him.

"Nah. I figured that might open up a can of worms perhaps better left done so, in person."

Emma nodded her understanding. If she'd had any family, she'd want to tell them about Killian in person, and not through a text message, after a joke. "Do you have any plans to go home and visit any time soon?"

"I do, actually," he mumbled. "I have some time off coming up, a couple of weeks after the Chicago event, so I'm gonna go home then, and see everyone."

"I don't blame you," Emma assured him. "If I lived and worked away from home, I'd wanna go back and visit as often as I could."

"You could come with me?" he suggested softly. He didn't much like the idea of being separated from Emma by a country border, let alone an entire ocean. "Come back and see Ireland? Maybe meet my family?"

Emma downed what was left in her wineglass before she spoke. "Isn't it a bit soon to be meeting the parents?"

"Possibly," he agreed, with a small shrug. "But, that doesn't mean we shouldn't. I mean… I'm not ashamed of you, Emma. I'd be so proud to introduce you to my family."

"I'll um… I'll think about it," she promised. It was the best she could do in that moment, and it was the best Killian had hoped for, when he'd made the spontaneous offer.

"Thank you." He picked up Emma's left hand, to press a kiss just above her knuckles, while his other fiddled inside his jacket pocket. When he finally found the envelope he was looking for, he pulled it out carefully, and slid it across the table. "Maybe before then, you would consider using these?"

Emma's hands were trembling slightly when she picked it up and opened the flap, to ease out the sheets of paper that had been carefully folded, and placed inside.

"Oh, Killian," she gasped.

"Ruby told me that you didn't think I had any intention of coming to visit, or of asking you to come and visit me. And you couldn't have been more wrong. I'd fly back to Storybrooke every weekend, if I could. Or fly you out to me, if that's what it took to see you again."

Inside the envelope were details for a first-class return flight to Vancouver, for October. Killian had booked the journey for early Thursday morning, to return late on Sunday evening, giving them as much time together as he possibly could.

"It's Canadian Thanksgiving that weekend," he explained. "Ireland's a little too far to fly home for it, so I usually just stay in Vancouver. I figured that this year, maybe I didn't need to spend that long weekend alone?"

"You won't," she promised. Emma already knew she had that weekend off work, and that David wouldn't object to covering for her on the Thursday and Friday, if she worked another of his weekends for him. "I'll come and visit."

"Good."

Killian didn't care that they were in the middle of a busy restaurant, full of people who knew Emma. He leaned forward to brush his lips softly against hers. It was his way of showing her just how much it meant to him, that she was willing to spend what was normally a lonely holiday weekend alone, with him.

* * *

As the Sheriff and her new boyfriend enjoyed their meal together; laughing at each other's stories; and tasting from each other's plates, another diner sat in the back corner of the room, silently fuming, with his eyes glued to the happy couple.

* * *

When they left the restaurant that evening, Emma took the slightly scenic route back to her apartment, opting to show Killian the coastal area of their small town. She'd always enjoyed spending time there, but during the morning, it was often busy with fishermen preparing to leave for the day, and by early afternoon, families had usually started gathering for picnics, or to walk their dogs along the beach.

She guided them down to a small bench, that had the best view over the docks, looking out at the sea, before she finally asked, "When does your flight leave tomorrow?"

"A little after lunch," he replied on a sigh. "If I could stay longer, I would."

"I know," Emma assured him, leaning in to his side a little, to ward off the chill of the breeze. Killian pulled back just far enough to slip his jacket off, and around her shoulders, before he pulled her into his chest, tightly.

"At least we only have a few weeks to go before we see each other again."

Emma smiled at the thought of the Chicago event that was coming up. She'd been in contact with some of the friends she'd made at previous events that year, and Belle would be joining her for the weekend. It had been a last-minute decision, and Emma had probably talked her into going. But, she was looking forward to seeing her friend again.

"Don't book a hotel," Killian mumbled into her hair. "You can stay with me."

"Will the event mind that?" she worried, pulling back to meet his eyes. In all her years working in law enforcement, Emma had always found that she could tell if she was being lied to, when she met a person's eyes, as they spoke to her.

"They won't know and they won't care," he replied honestly. "They just book the suite for me. There's no stipulations about who I can, and cannot, bring back to it. Just as long as I pay for my own room service."

Emma nodded her agreement, but before she could snuggle back into his side, Killian leaned down to press his lips to hers. Her body responded instinctually, and she returned his kiss with fierce passion, sliding herself closer to him on the bench, as she curled her hand into his hair.

It was only when the loud and obnoxious whistling permeated Emma's lust-filled haze that she finally pulled away, to glare in the direction it was coming from, over Killian's shoulder.

"Oh, Sheriff," Leroy slurred, "I didn't recognize you there."

Emma wanted to say, 'of course you didn't. I was busy sucking on my boyfriend's tongue,' but instead, she went for, "Isn't it a little late for a stroll, Leroy?"

At the use of his name, Killian turned to follow her gaze, excited to finally get his first good look at the man who was the cause of so much trouble for Emma, on a weekly basis.

"Could ask the same of you," Leroy threw back at her.

"Killian and I can still walk in a straight line," Emma pointed out, as her Sheriff's persona slipped firmly into place. They were currently in no danger of slipping off the pier, and drowning.

"Good for you," he offered, with false cheer.

Emma threw a look at Killian that clearly said she was sorry for what was about to happen, before she stood up and asked, "How about we walk you home? Killian and I were now heading back to my place, anyway."

"I can get home just fine by myself," Leroy asserted.

"I know you can. But at least this way, I won't finish my date worrying that you've tripped and banged your head, or fallen into the sea." Emma shifted her face into the one she usually wore when she was reprimanding Leroy for breaking another town nuisance law, and it had the desired effect. The older man's scowl softened, and he nodded his head once, sharply, before turning on his heels, and swaying off in the direction of his small house.

Killian was by Emma's side in an instant, his fingers already linked with hers as the two of them followed Leroy home, giving him a little distance, so as not to make the situation volatile.

"Sorry about this," she murmured, just for Killian's ears.

"Don't be." He raised their joined hands to place a sweet kiss to the back of hers. "You're a good Sheriff, Emma. And it shows."

"Thank you."

Even in his drunken state, it didn't take Leroy long to find his way home, but he struggled a little with finding the key to his front door. When Killian had watched him jam the same wrong key into the lock, three times in a row, he reached out to take them from the drunken man, with the hope of finding the right one.

"You know, you don't _have_ to sleep with him on the first date, right?" Leroy had been aiming for a whisper, but his voice was so loud, that it easily carried to Killian, who was less than two steps away.

Emma snorted out a small laugh as she explained, "I know. And we didn't."

"Huh," was all Leroy replied with, as Killian finally found the right key, and pushed open his front door. He brushed past the younger man without so much as a 'thank you,' before calling over his shoulder, "Good night, Sheriff," as he slammed the door shut behind himself.

"Well… he's a cheery fellow," Killian remarked, as he wrapped an arm around Emma's shoulders, to pull her in close.

"Yeah. He's like that even when he's not drunk. Just… a little more grumpy," Emma chuckled.

"Given how much you mention him when we talk, I'd have been disappointed to fly home tomorrow _without_ having met the guy."

Emma laughed heartily at Killian's confession, as they finally stopped in front of the door to her apartment building. "You wanna come up for coffee?" she teased.

"Is that what the kids are calling it these days?" Killian dropped his hands down to her waist, as his tongue darted out to wet his bottom lip. "No," he replied honestly. "I wanna come up and make love to my beautiful girlfriend… all night long. I want the scent of your skin, and the feel of your lips against mine, to be the last things I experience, before I have to fly back to Vancouver. And those little breathy moans you make, when you're aroused… just like that one… I wanna hear them all night. I want those to be seared into my mind, so that when I'm alone, and missing you, I can remember just how much I affect you. Because… you drive me crazy, Emma."

Emma kicked the door to her building open, before tugging Killian through it, to fuse their lips together. Nobody had ever made her feel as sexy as he did, and it definitely showed. She hadn't been lying when she'd told Ruby that she'd never had so much sex before, in her life.

But with Killian, Emma couldn't seem to get enough.

She loved the way he made her feel. It was a confidence she'd never experienced before, without her badge and gun strapped to her hip.

Navigating the staircase, up to Emma's floor, wasn't easy. Neither one of them were prepared to pull back far enough to _actually_ see where they were going. Killian was sure he'd wake the next morning with bruised shins, but he'd wear those marks with pride.

Emma finally had to break free from him to dig out her keys, and unlock the front door. But Killian quickly molded himself to her back, as he showered kisses down over her neck, and collarbone, until she finally pushed through the open doorway.

He pulled her round and back into his arms so quickly, that Emma almost felt dizzy with the motion. But the feel of his lips on hers once more helped to ground her. She kicked off her heels, as Killian slid his jacket down her shoulders, to hit the floor with a dull thud. He lifted his arms only long enough for her tug his shirt up, and over his head, before they were sliding up her back, in search of the zipper on her dress.

Emma dropped her hands down to work on his belt, as she felt the slow drag of her zip, before the material began to give way around her shoulders. In his haste to get her naked, Killian almost tore the dress, as he pulled it down and off her body, before hoisting her up, and into his arms, wearing nothing but her black lace lingerie.

"You know, your strength is kinda sexy?" Emma panted, between her kisses. Killian kicked open the door to her bedroom, and dropped her down, onto the plush comforter.

"I'll remember that when my personal trainer is kicking my arse," he told her, with a breathless chuckle. As he reached over to flick on the light by the bed, Emma's brow quirked in confusion. "I wanna see you, tonight. I wanna see _all_ of you. I don't want to forget a moment of this," he explained.

Emma swallowed hard as she watched him slowly pull off each of his boots and socks, before finally bringing his hands up to work the button on his jeans. It was probably the closest she'd ever come to a strip tease, in her entire life, but she couldn't pull her eyes away from the small movements Killian's hands were making.

"You're stunning," she told him, when she finally flicked her eyes up to meet his, as he let his jeans drop to the bedroom floor.

"Says the goddess currently spread out across her bed," Killian chuckled. He left his boxers on, before crawling over her prone body, to bring their lips together once more.

As much as he wanted her desperately in that moment, Killian also wanted to make their final night together last. So, when Emma pulled away for air, he showered her face with small kisses, before working his way down her body, to do the same. He wanted her to know how much she meant to him, before he left. Even if he was too scared to put those feelings into words for her.

On his way back up her body, he stopped to drag her panties down, and toss them off the bed, before he settled himself between her thighs.

"Killian, you don't have…" Emma began, but he stopped her with a sweet kiss to the spot where she was aching for his attention most.

"I want to," he assured her, turning his head to drop a kiss to her left thigh, before he switched to the right. The burn of his stubble was an interesting, but not unwelcome sensation, that left Emma writhing underneath his attention. "So beautiful," he whispered, as he nosed gently at her folds. "So wet for me, Sweetheart."

"God, yes," she whimpered, grinding down against him.

Emma had been with a few guys before Neal, but none of them had ever really been keen on giving, in the oral sex department. And she could probably count the number of times Neal had gone down on her with both hands.

But Killian… Killian couldn't seem to get enough of it.

And she wasn't going to stop him, if he truly seemed to enjoy it.

Killian flattened his tongue to drag it slowly up Emma's folds, tasting as much of her as he possible could, in one leisurely stroke. While he used his left arm to anchor her hips to the bed, he brought his right one down, to gently tease along the path his tongue had taken.

"Love the way you taste," he groaned, as he gently slipped his index finger into her.

"Oh, Killian," Emma gasped. "I need you."

"Soon, Sweetheart. Soon," he soothed. He'd wanted to drag the night out for as long as he could, but with Emma already looking half-crazed with her desire for him, Killian knew he wasn't going to be able to resist her demands for much longer.

On his next thrust, Killian pulled back to slide both his index and middle finger into his beautiful girlfriend, stretching and preparing her softly, as he moved his attention further up, to her clit.

Emma's back arched away from the bed, at the dual sensation of Killian's tongue flicking rapidly over her, while his talented fingers curled inside of her, searching for that spot he knew would make her see stars.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God," she panted, screwing her eyes shut against the almost painful pleasure that was building inside of her. They might have only been doing this dance for a day, but Killian had made it his personal mission to learn every inch of her body, in that time. And he had her on edge quicker than anyone else ever had before.

"Please?" she begged, needing just that little something more to tip her over. " _Please_?"

Killian grinned wickedly up at her, before he bent his head to suck on her clitoris.

That was all it took to have Emma's body arching up, off the bed, as she cried out her release, while Killian gently eased her through it.

It took a long moment for Emma to come back down from her high, and when she did, it was to her find her boyfriend still kneeling between her thighs, stroking his cock lazily.

She allowed her eyes to follow his movements for a couple of seconds, and Killian groaned at her unwavering attention, before she flicked them up to meet his. "Come here," she asked, extending her hand for his.

Killian shuffled forward just far enough to reach for the box of condoms on Emma's bedside table. He knew if he got any closer to her, he'd forget all about them. And, as much as he cared for Emma, he also knew that neither of them were ready for the consequence that could come from _that_.

When he was finished, he leaned in to brush a bruising kiss to her lips, as her small hands slipped down his body, to help guide him to where she needed him the most. The sigh they both released, at the feeling of being united once more, was soft and loving, as they fell quickly into a gentle rhythm of push and pull.

One of Killian's hands slipped down to Emma's thigh, where he used his grip there to help guide her movements, as she pushed up to meet each of his thrusts. His left hand quickly found hers, where it was wrapped around his shoulders, and he gently gathered it up, to press a kiss to the back of it. When he dropped their hands back down to the pillow, it was with their fingers locked together tightly, just like the rest of their bodies.

As Emma's hips started moving a little faster, Killian picked up his own pace. There was a time and place for driving each other crazy with teasing, and this definitely wasn't it.

The entire atmosphere in the room had shifted once more. Emma could feel the unspoken words between the two of them, floating around them with each move they made.

And she bit down on her tongue to hold them in.

This _certainly_ wasn't the time for _that._

Killian brushed his nose softly against hers, almost as if he could sense the war taking place inside of her, before he bent his head to kiss her sweetly.

"Killian," she gasped, as he pulled away with a more forceful thrust of his hips.

"I know," he panted. "I know."

Emma was drowning in the look that was swimming behind his eyes. She might not have been ready to speak those three small words, and she wasn't sure she was ready to hear them yet, either.

But she wanted Killian to know she felt it too.

So, she held his gaze, as he pushed into her with strong and confident strokes, until the pressure building inside became too much, and she could no longer keep her eyes open.

"Oh, God," she moaned, as his free hand slid over her hip and down, to begin rubbing soft circles around her clit.

"I need you to come with me," he begged.

"So close," Emma assured him, pulling Killian's head down to hers, for a breathtaking kiss.

When she came again, it was with a soft cry of, "Oh, Killian," whispered into the damp flesh of his neck.

Killian followed quickly after, holding Emma close as he whispered her name, over and over, like a prayer.

He'd watched from the shadows, earlier that night, as she'd walked with _him_ , down by the docks. Their arms had been wrapped around each other, making them look every inch the loved-up couple he despised.

He'd seethed when that drunken idiot, Leroy, had interrupted them, and she'd insisted on walking him home. He was just one more person, in that godforsaken town, who now knew how much of a whore she really was.

* * *

He'd followed as she'd taken _him_ back to her apartment, not even bothering to get inside the door, before she'd thrown herself at _him_ , shameless in her attempts at seduction.

He'd watched as the light had clicked on, in the shaded window of her bedroom, and had stayed on, until the early hours of the morning.

He'd watched through the flimsy curtains she had hung, as _his_ shadow walked around the room.

And he'd watched as the light clicked off, finally plunging the room into darkness, close to dawn.

As he turned to leave, and head back home, he pulled out his cellphone, to place his first call.

* * *

 **Emma and Killian's looks here are based on Jen and Colin's for the GMA interview in 2014.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	26. Chapter 26

**It's still Sunday somewhere in the world, right?**

 **I am so sorry this one has taken as long as it has to get out for you. It took me far too long to realise what was wrong on it (my timeline was out by 2 weeks. I have no idea how the Once writers manage to live with that confusion. 2 weeks was enough to leave me scrambling through everything to fix my mistakes).**

 **I just hope it's worth the wait.**

* * *

As the sun rose over a slightly damp and foggy morning in Storybrooke, Emma watched as the light began creeping in through the gaps in her curtains, to fall across Killian's naked body.

The two of them had spent most of their final hours tangled together, wanting to leave a lasting impression before they were parted once more. When they'd finally collapsed into an exhausted heap, neither of them had been keen on the thought of sleeping away the precious time they had left.

Killian had been the first to lose his battle with exhaustion, drifting off just before the sun began to rise. Emma had used the time to study the man who had quickly become an important part of her life. He'd fallen asleep on his front, with his head turned in her direction, and his arms folded under his pillow. The duvet rested low enough to just cover his shapely rear, and Emma had to fight back the urge to trace the patterns being cast onto the skin of his lower back, from the rising sun's beams.

She spent her time cataloguing the small details about him that she now knew, and very few others would. She memorized the small freckles on his back, and the patterns she could make with them. The way his shoulders flexed as he dreamed, and how it rippled down through his muscles, before disappearing under the duvet. The way his hair curled, just slightly, at the very edges of his neck, suggesting it was probably time for him to get it cut. How his eyelashes brushed against his cheekbones as he dreamed, and the way a small serene smile would tug at his lips, as he left out a soft sigh.

She could lose herself in just watching him sleep for hours.

"It's rude to stare," Killian mumbled, starling Emma from her appreciation.

"I thought you were sleeping," she whispered back, reaching out to brush the hair that had fallen into his eyes, off his face. Killian caught her hand with his own, and brought it to his lips, to press a kiss to her palm.

"Nope. I was just enjoying your company," he sighed, finally blinking his eyes open. When they met Emma's, his lips curled into a breathtaking smile as he whispered, "Hey, Beautiful."

"Hey," she whispered back. She tried to keep her smile fixed in place, but it faltered slightly when that ticking clock in her mind started once more, and Killian reached out to tuck her into his side.

"Soon," he promised. "Chicago's not far away."

Emma nodded her head into his chest, but didn't trust herself to speak. She couldn't believe how much the thought of saying goodbye to him was hurting. They hadn't known each other all that long. But it already felt as though he were an integral part of her life. Killian seemed to sense her inner turmoil and simply pulled her in tighter, until the storm within her passed.

"Do you wanna take a shower?" she asked eventually, pulling away to flick a brief look at the time, before she turned her eyes back to her beautiful boyfriend.

"Yeah, that would be nice."

Their shower together that morning was unlike the one they'd taken the day before. Killian took his time to massage Emma's favorite shampoo into her hair, making sure each and every strand was taken care of, before he directed the spray of the water down to rinse it clear. He spent the same time and care on applying her conditioner, making sure to draw out some long and contented sighs from his girlfriend, before he rinsed again, and turned his attention to her body.

Emma had never felt the kind of love and care that Killian was showing to her in that moment. She was grateful for the water that was currently cascading down over the two of them, as it managed to disguise her tears.

"Killian," she whispered.

He turned his eyes up to meet hers, but continued the gentle circular movement of his hand, as he used Emma's washcloth to gently cleanse her skin. He could see the war currently raging inside of her, but Killian would give Emma as long as she needed to form whatever words she felt necessary, in that moment.

It was yet another quality of his that she adored. He never rushed her, or pushed her to talk, unlike some of the other people in her life. She knew they all meant well, but Emma had learned the hard way how to protect her heart, and it was a lesson that she had never forgotten.

"I think I'm falling in love with you."

The words were spoken so quietly, but with so much conviction, that Killian knew he wasn't imaging them. He allowed his lips to curl into a wonderfully bright smile, but continued his quest to wash his girlfriend. When the last of the suds had disappeared down the drain, he leaned forward to press a kiss to Emma's tummy, before standing up and curling his hand around her neck, to pull her head in to meet his.

"Good," he sighed, as his tongue darted out to lick his lower lip. "Because I'm pretty sure I've been in love with you since the moment you ran into that elevator in Boston."

He wasn't sure which one of them moved first, but before he could take another breath, Emma's lips were on his, kissing him with an intensity that Killian hadn't felt from her before.

They finally left the shower, later that morning, when the hot water ran cold.

* * *

Ruby was already up and making coffee when the two of them left Emma's room, fully dressed, with their hands linked tightly together.

"Morning," she offered, along with a sad smile. "How was your date?"

"It was great," Killian replied, sliding into a seat as Emma busied herself with fixing the two of them a drink. "I _finally_ got to meet Leroy."

"Oh dear God, what did he do now?"

"Nothing," Emma chuckled. "He was off his face, and headed down to the docks. Again. So, we walked home."

"You're far too kind to him," Ruby protested. "You should just let him fall in. The shock of that cold sea water might help teach him a lesson."

"Or he could drown," Emma countered, cocking a brow in her friend's direction.

Ruby shrugged the comment off, before taking her own seat around the small island. She could already sense the tension building around her. "So, um… what time is your flight?" she asked Killian quietly, as she cringed internally.

It was the elephant in the room, and all three of them knew it.

"It's at three," he mumbled. He'd booked the latest possible flight back, hoping to spend as much time as he could with Emma. He'd feel the effects of it on set the next morning, but there was absolutely no fiber of his being that could bring itself to resent his decision.

Ruby nodded her head to show that she'd heard what Killian had said, but didn't say anything herself. She couldn't begin to imagine how difficult it was for her friend, in that moment. The last thing she wanted to do was say something that would make the situation even worse for them.

"I um… I should call David," Emma mumbled, standing suddenly from her seat.

"What for?" Killian asked curiously.

"To see if he'll cover this morning. I should be the one to drive you to the airport."

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "It's a four-hour drive, Emma. The last thing you need right now is to make that drive home. Alone."

Ruby kept her mouth shut, but she did nod her agreement with Killian's words. If Emma insisted on being the one to drive him, she knew that there was very little either of them could do about it. Emma was one of the most stubborn people she'd ever met in her entire life. But, she knew that there would be more than a few tears shed once Killian boarded his flight, and the last thing he, or Ruby, would want was to know that Emma was making the long drive home alone, while upset.

"It's an extra four hours I get to spend with you," she argued.

"Sweetheart, I'd be worried sick about your driving back alone, while I was in the air. I have a car booked to come and pick me up. As much as I _want_ to spend that time with you, I'd much rather say our goodbyes _here_ , in private."

Emma looked like she wanted to argue, but the way Killian was looking at her stopped her from doing so. She knew that deep down, he was right. Neither of them should be saying their goodbyes in a public airport, where they'd have the chance of being seen. She also knew that the moment he was out of her sight, the tears she'd been fighting to hold back all morning would fall, making it impossible for her to drive home.

"Next time, I'm driving you to and from the airport," she declared. There was absolutely no room for negotiation in her tone.

"Next time," Killian agreed. He sealed his promise with a tender kiss, and Emma melted easily into his embrace.

* * *

As Ruby slipped away for work, offering Killian a warm hug of her own before she did, Emma settled herself onto the small sofa in the lounge. She didn't know what to do with herself. A part of her wanted to strip her boyfriend bare once more, and spend the rest of the precious time they had left together, tangled in each other's embrace. A more sensible part of her was saying that she really should check in at the station, and make sure everything was okay there. But, the lost little girl in her wanted nothing more than for Killian to just hold her until he had to leave.

"Come here," he told her, as he dropped down next to her, and opened his arms. Somehow, he always knew exactly what she needed, and when. He didn't mention the damp patch that was slowly forming on his shirt, or the slight tremor running through Emma's shoulders. Instead, he held her tightly, as he ran a soothing hand through her hair, and dropped gentle kisses to the top of her head.

When the tears finally dried, and her shoulders stopped shaking, he began whispering his reassurances to her. "It's gonna be okay, Sweetheart. We only have a few weeks to go and then we'll be reunited again."

"I'm thinking of trying for your meet and greet," she joked, as she pulled back to look up at him. "I'm sure there's dozens of things I can think to ask you between now and then."

Killian chuckled at the glint in her eyes, that had been missing all that morning. "Don't waste too much of your money on me, Love. You'll get a private meet and greet later that night, remember?"

"Imagine how much money they'd sell for if the rest of your fans knew that," she giggled.

"Am I gonna have to share you with my co-stars all weekend?"

"I dunno," Emma teased. There was a small smile playing across her lips, but Killian could still see her pain behind it. Yet, she looked so beautiful when she smiled that he couldn't help but return it. "I think I've got enough pictures with you now. I mean… whatever else can we do?"

"Is that a challenge?" he asked, as he quirked a brow down at her. "Because I'm sure I can think of _something_ different to do."

"I look forward to it."

Killian leaned down with the intention of kissing his girlfriend once more, but Emma pulled back before he could make contact. "Maybe I should book a couple with Robin too? You know, he might have some creative pose ideas for me. And it would look a little strange if I only had pictures of you, on my walls. Someone might think I was a tad obsessed."

"Don't you fucking dare," he growled, as he pulled her into his chest. Killian used his kisses to show her just how much he disliked the thought of another man putting his hands on his girlfriend. He knew it was completely irrational, and that his friend was a happily married man, who would never dream of getting involved with a fan. But, he still didn't like the idea of his friend getting as close to Emma as he had, in some of their previous photo ops.

That was _their_ thing.

He kissed her that morning like a dying man would kiss his love, for one last time. Killian poured every ounce of passion he felt for her into each gentle swipe of his tongue, and every nip of his teeth, hoping that she'd remember just how much he wanted her, even when he wasn't around to show it.

He lost himself completely in her arms, engulfed in that scent that was so uniquely Emma, and the softness of her skin. And while their hands clutched desperately at each other, neither one of them made a move to strip the other bare. They both knew that in that moment, what mattered more was just being close to each other.

Killian slowed their kisses when he felt Emma begin to gasp for breath under his hands. He pulled away slowly, dropping sweet caresses to every part of her face, before he tucked her back into his chest.

For the longest time they just sat together, enjoying the silence of the loft, and being in each other's arms. Emma could hear his heart beating under her ear, and she used her fingers to tap out the rhythm on his thigh, as Killian pressed the occasional kiss to her hair.

"Do you need to check in at the station?" he asked eventually.

"They'll call my cell if they need me," Emma dismissed easily.

He wanted to press her on the issue. He knew that if he weren't there, she'd have left for work already. But the thought of the two of them spending any amount of their last few hours apart hurt him just as much as he imagined it would hurt her. So instead, he simply tightened his grip on her waist, and flicked the TV on, for some background noise.

"I wish I could take you back with me."

"I wish I could come back with you," Emma sighed. "Is that crazy? That I'm literally considering uprooting my entire life right now, for a man I've only known a few months?"

"If it is, then I'm crazy," Killian chuckled. "You're a dangerous woman, Emma Swan."

Emma sat up suddenly in his arms, as something else occurred to her. "What happens when that time comes?" she asked.

"When what time comes, Sweetheart?"

"When the time comes where neither one of us wants this distance between us anymore. You live over seven _hours_ away. Our entire relationship can't be spread across two countries like this. I don't want to always be saying goodbye to you. What happens then?"

Killian reached out to run his fingers gently over Emma's jawline, before he tangled them through her hair, to scratch soothingly at her scalp. "When that time comes, then we make the decision that's right for us. If that means me moving here, that's what I'll do. If it means you moving up to Canada with me, then we do that. If neither of us want to be in either of those places, then we go where _we_ want to go. Let's not worry over anything just yet. You might get sick of me in a few more months."

"I doubt it," she scoffed. "I can't get enough of you."

Killian dropped another kiss to the top of her head as he assured her, "The feeling is very much mutual, my love."

* * *

Emma had never resented an object as much as she resented the clock that was hanging on her wall, that morning. It's ticking seemed overly loud, as it counted down the seconds until their parting, and made her hyper aware of every minute that passed.

Time had never moved as fast as it seemed to, that day.

"Stop looking," Killian chided, as he noticed her eyes flick over to the wall once more.

"I can't help it," she chuckled bitterly. "I hate that I have so little time left with you. It's not enough. It's never gonna be enough."

When his phone began to ring, from where Killian had placed it onto the coffee table in the room, he had half a mind to ignore the call.

Emma was the one to pull away first, dropping her head down to his shoulder as she mumbled, "See what I mean? That's probably your driver. You should get that."

Killian gave her arm a gentle squeeze, before reaching for his phone, and answering the call with a gruff, "Yeah?"

Emma couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the line, but Killian ended the conversation with, "Okay. I'll be down in a few moments."

Despite his promise to his driver, he made absolutely no move to let go of her. Instead, he dropped his phone to the couch, and slipped his fingers under her chin, to gently tilt her head up. When her watery eyes met his, he brought his lips down to softly tease at hers. This kiss was different to the one they'd shared just moments before. Instead of all of the passion Killian had poured into it, he focused on channeling his love for her into the soft presses of his lips.

When they broke apart it was only far enough for Killian to drop his forehead down to rest against her own, as he allowed his thumbs to trace soothing circles over her cheeks.

"I'll miss you," Emma whispered, as another tear escaped to roll down her cheek. Killian's thumb brushed it away softly.

"I'll miss you too," he assured her. "More than I thought possible." He paused to clear the lump forming in his own throat, before he added, "I missed you before this weekend. But now that I've been able to spend this time with you, I know it will be infinitely worse."

Emma leaned forward to press her lips to his once more, as her tears steadily rolled down her face. "I should um.. I should let you go."

"I don't want to," he admitted quietly, before pressing another slightly harsher kiss to her lips.

Emma sucked in a deep breath, before standing from the sofa. She knew one of them needed to be the strong one, before the other made a decision they might come to regret. "You should go," she told him. "You don't wanna miss your flight. You have to work tomorrow." As an afterthought she added, "And I should probably do some work this afternoon too."

Killian snorted out a laugh at her brutal honesty, as he stood to take her hands into his own, and squeezed them gently. "Yeah. You don't want the town to descend into complete chaos in your absence."

She smiled sadly up at him, as she leaned in to press a kiss to the corner of his mouth, while she threw her arms around his neck. Emma allowed herself one final moment to soak up the comfort he was offering, before she pulled back again, determined to let him go.

"Call me when you land?"

"It'll be the first thing I do," Killian promised, as he reached for her hands once more. He needed that connection between the two of them just as much as she did.

"If you wait until you're out of the airport we could try phone sex. I hear it's what all the cool kids are doing," she teased.

His eyes darkened slightly at her offer, as Killian took a small step closer to her. "I can't call you in the airport, and when I get home?"

"You can call me whenever you want," Emma replied seriously. Unless there was a rare emergency in town that she needed to deal with, she couldn't imagine ever ignoring his calls.

Killian's phone began to ring once more, the driver downstairs waiting for him was clearly fed up with how long it was taking for the two of them to say their goodbyes. Killian let out a frustrated huff, before he bent to place a sweet lingering kiss to Emma's lips.

"Okay. I'll message you when I get to the airport. And I'll call when I land in Vancouver," he told her.

Emma nodded her agreement as the two of them moved as one, heading for the front door to her apartment, where Killian had already placed his bag.

"And you'll stay safe while I'm gone, right?" he asked.

She snorted a little at his concern for her, but agreed nonetheless. While it was odd to have someone worry over her so much, it was also quite a nice feeling to know there was someone in the world who cared enough to tell her to stay safe, before she left for work.

"You too," she teased, nudging his shoulder with her own. "I've seen the gag reels. I know how difficult you find staying on your feet."

"Hey!" Killian exclaimed, trying his hardest to look offended at her comment. "They pick the worst parts."

"Sure," she giggled. "You know, there's an entire ship dedicated to Hook and the floor, right?"

Killian's brow furrowed for a moment as he tried to piece together Emma's meaning from the seemingly random assortment of words she had spoken, before he finally gave up and asked, "I'm sorry, what?"

"I'll send you some links," she chuckled, as his phone started ringing once again. "You really should go," she sighed. "You don't want your driver to leave without you."

Killian looked like he wanted to protest, but he didn't. Instead, he bent down to grab his bag, before he straightened up and pulled open the front door. Without a word spoken between the two of them, Emma took his hand into her own, and followed him down the stairs, and out to where a black car was waiting. She lingered by her front door as Killian placed his bag securely in the trunk, before he offered the driver a few words, and then turned back to face her.

Everything that he wanted to say had already been said. And he knew that if he repeated it back to her again, then he'd never leave the town. So instead, he took her hands into his own and gave them a gentle squeeze.

"I love you, Emma Swan."

Emma choked on a sob as she blinked back the tears building in her eyes. "I love you too," she whispered.

"I'll call as soon as I land. And I'll be counting the hours until Chicago."

Emma didn't trust her voice to work, so she simply nodded her understanding.

Killian hesitated for a long moment before he closed the distance between them to give her one last lingering and tender kiss. "Goodbye, Love," he whispered, as he pressed his lips to her forehead.

Emma managed to hold herself together just long enough to see him slide into the back of the car. She watched as the vehicle disappear down the road, before it turned off, and headed for Boston.

As soon as it was out of sight, she turned and bolted back up to the loft, as the tears began to pour over.

* * *

"Hey," Ruby soothed, as she sank down next to Emma on the bed. She'd brought grilled cheese and onion rings, and a mug of hot cocoa, home with her, knowing that her friend would need all the comfort she could get that afternoon.

"Shouldn't you be at work?" Emma croaked out. Her voice was hoarse from the tears that had already spilled over, and those that had yet to fall.

"You're more important," was all Ruby said, as she gathered her best friend into her arms, to let her cry it all out.

* * *

Waking up the next morning was the cruellest kind of tease.

Emma's sheets still smelled of Killian. In the short time he'd been in the loft, his scent seemed to have permeated every inch of it, making it impossible to escape.

Not that she would have wanted to.

Thankfully, when she swung her legs out of bed, and picked up her phone to check it, there was a message already waiting for her, from the man constantly on her mind.

 **Good morning, Beautiful.**

 **I wish I were there to tell you that in person.**

 **But at least I only have 18 more days to wait to do it again.**

He'd attached a picture of himself to the message, looking adorably sleepy in his bed, and Emma's heart swelled with love for the man on her screen.

 _Morning._

 _As long as I can wake up to these kinds of messages every morning, the next 18 days will pass by much more pleasantly than I expected._

 _I'm heading out for a run._

 _I'll message you when I get to the station._

 _X_

She set her phone down on the bed as she pulled out her favourite running pants and vest to change in to, before heading for the bathroom, to brush her teeth. When she made it back into the room, her phone already had one final message waiting for her.

 **Only if you'll return the favour!**

 **Enjoy your run and STAY SAFE!**

 **I love you. X**

* * *

"Hey, Ems," David greeted, as she made her way into the Sheriff's station, later that morning.

"Hey," she muttered distractedly, while she thumbed through the post that had been waiting for her. "How's your mom?"

"She's doing much better, thanks. Cuddles from her grandson definitely helped."

"Of course they did," Emma scoffed. "Cuddles with Leo _always_ help." She dropped the stack of papers onto her desk, and then turned back to give David her full attention.

That was when she noticed the large box he was tearing his way into.

"What the hell is that?"

"I was gonna ask you the same question," he chuckled. "You didn't order it?"

"I haven't ordered _anything…_ unless you count convention tickets, but they're electronically emailed to me. What is that?"

David gave her a slightly odd look at her admission of ordering tickets to a convention, which Emma knew she'd need to explain to him at a later date, before he turned back to the cardboard, and finally finished pulling it off to reveal the package inside of it.

The moment Emma saw the logo on the side of the next box, she knew exactly what it was, and who had sent it.

"Son of a bitch," she mumbled in awe. "I can't believe he did that."

"Who did what?" David asked, his confusion growing by the moment.

"Killian." Emma was too distracted by his gift to realise that she was making no sense.

"Who is Killian and why has he sent this?" David tried again.

She finally shook her head to clear it a little, before she realised she'd need to come up with some kind of explanation for her partner. "Um… he's my boyfriend," she admitted, with a slight blush. Her eyes flicked over to the small cot in the corner of the holding cell, before settling back on the box between them. "He came to visit this weekend, and complained about the coffee."

"I thought you were dating a guy called John?" David asked. His partner was making absolutely no sense that morning, and it was starting to worry him.

Emma wanted to curse herself for being so stupid. While using Killian's middle name around Mary-Margret had been a good idea, having the man himself visit town was bound to make things more difficult. Too many people had been introduced to him as Killian, so there was no way she could continue using his middle name around her friends. "Um… it's the same guy," she explained. "John's his middle name. He uses it for correspondence sometimes. It's a long story."

David didn't look terribly happy about Emma waving away his concern, but he knew that pushing her wouldn't give him anymore answers either. So instead, he asked, "Do you fancy giving me a hand to set this up? I could murder a decent coffee."

"You're on your own there," she snorted. Killian being Killian had sent the best coffee machine he could find. And Emma knew that was going to take her partner all morning to set up. "I'll head to Granny's and get us some real coffee to keep you going until that's sorted, though."

* * *

"Morning Sheriff. How was your weekend?" Granny asked with a knowing smile, as Emma pushed her way through the front door.

"Best ever," she replied honestly. "Can I get two coffees, please?"

"Coming right up."

Emma pulled out her phone to message Killian while she waited, but had only just unlocked it when the small bell above the door tinkled, to signal the arrival of a new customer. It was quickly followed by Leroy's greeting of, "Morning Sheriff."

"Morning, Leroy." Emma forced a smile for the grumpy older man, and then turned her attention back to her phone, determined to thank her boyfriend for his thoughtful gift.

"That fella of yours not here?" Leroy grunted out.

"No. He had to fly back home." Emma hated the reminder, but she knew that Leroy wasn't to blame for it.

"Huh… He seemed like a nice guy. You looked happy," he offered, by way of explanation. "I um… I hope he treats you well. You deserve that."

"He does." Emma couldn't help the small smile that formed at the thought of her wonderful boyfriend, and the fancy new coffee machine David was busy setting up for them, back at the station. She'd have to take a few pictures to send to Killian too. David had never been the best at assembling anything, so something was bound to go hilariously wrong.

"I'm um… I'm sorry I interrupted your date the other night." Emma's eyes snapped up to meet Leroy's at his apology. She was surprised he'd offered one. He'd made her duties incredibly difficult since she'd taken over the role of sheriff, and never once before had he apologised to her for his actions.

But Emma was also incredibly aware that the town drunk seemed to have no concept of volume control, and that everyone in the diner has stopped eating at his utterance of the word 'date.'

She was even more aware of the sound of glass shattering, from the back corner of the room.

Emma didn't have to lift her head to know who was responsible for it.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading.**


	27. Chapter 27

"So, are we gonna talk about it?" David asked the next morning, as he sat a mug of coffee in front of his Sheriff. A mug of coffee that would rival Granny's own blend.

"Talk about what?"

David sighed as he pulled out one of the uncomfortable chairs on the other side of Emma's desk, and attempted to make himself as comfortable as he possibly could in it. He knew Emma well enough to know that pulling personal information out of her was as painful as pulling teeth. But he also cared enough to try.

"The boyfriend?" he asked softly.

"What's there to talk about? I have one. He's very sweet." Emma raised her eyes to offer him a tight smile, before she focused them back on the reports on her screen.

"Well, we could start with his name?" David suggested. "You told us over dinner it was John. And now it's Killian? So… which one is it?"

"I told you," Emma sighed, "It's both. His name is Killian John. He just uses his middle name for correspondence some times."

"Okay. Well, that aside, how about we talk about the coffee machine?"

"What about the coffee machine?" Emma asked, her irritation growing by the second. "You use it more than I do."

David groaned as he scrubbed a hand over his face. The conversation was going exactly as well as he'd thought it would. "It's worth like two thousand dollars, Emma. I Googled it. And he sent enough coffee to keep us going for months. Who the hell are you dating that can afford to drop two grand on a coffee machine?"

"He has a good job."

"What kind of good job allows people to drop that on a coffee machine, and requires the use of two different names?" David pushed. At the look of annoyance that flashed over Emma's face, he rushed on to add, "Look, Ems… you're like a sister to me. I just wanna make sure you're not getting yourself involved with someone bad for you, that's all."

"You mean like how you all let me get involved with Neal?" she snapped back. Emma knew that was an unfair comment to make. She knew she'd been pigheaded and stubborn, when it came to her ex. She hadn't listened to any of the warnings people had offered her. Her decision to date Neal was all on her. But she didn't like the way David was questioning Killian. Killian was a good man, with even better intentions.

"That's not the same thing and you know it," David shot back. "It's just… you were with Neal for so long, Ems. And then, all of a sudden, you're not. Which is not a bad thing. We'd all been hoping you'd wake up to his ways before you signed the marriage license. But now you're suddenly in this new relationship and nobody knows who this guy is, or where he's from. He's sending you expensive gifts and taking you on trips… Surely you can see why I'm worried?"

Emma's ire melted away at the genuine look of concern on her friend's face. David was right, he and Mary-Margret were the closest Emma would ever come to having siblings. And she hated having to lie to the two of them. She just knew that without having Killian physically stood beside her, there was very little chance of her friends believing her when she explained who he was, and how they had met.

But Emma trusted David. And she wanted to offer him something to help reassure him that she was in a good place, in her life.

"His name really is Killian John," she began. "Killian John Jones. He's um… I met him one weekend while I was away. When Neal and I were still together."

David's brows rose high on his forehead as Emma's news started to sink in. He'd known about Neal's wandering hands and eyes. But he would never have expected Emma to cheat on her fiancé.

"I didn't cheat on Neal. Well… not fully. We didn't sleep together while I was still engaged," she assured her friend, having guessed where his mind had gone. "But I did kiss him. And I um, I definitely fell hard for him. It just… it didn't go so well. I didn't want to be _that_ person. The one who had one guy in one state, and another in another. So, I told Killian the truth. And he kicked me out." Emma turned her eyes down to her lap, where she was fiddling with the hem of her sweater. Even knowing what she did now, she still wasn't proud of how her relationship with Killian had begun. And that moment of rejection in New Jersey still stung more than she could ever have imagined it would.

"I ended things with Neal after that. I told him about what I'd done, and he told me it was fine, because we all make mistakes."

"Fucking idiot," David muttered, and Emma snorted her agreement.

"Ruby um… she'd met Killian before. And she saw what his rejection did to me. So, she arranged for us to meet again and talk things through. I got a chance to explain to him what had happened, and why I'd kept Neal from him." Emma lifted her eyes to meet David's briefly, before she carried on. "Killian had thought I was just playing him. That's why he'd reacted the way he did. And once everything was out in the open, we were able to work things out. We're giving this long-distance relationship thing a go because… because honestly, I don't think I could ever imagine myself with anyone else," she admitted quietly.

David's smile was bright and warm at Emma's words, and she blushed a little under its intensity. "That's good, Ems. That's… really good. I'm glad he makes you feel that way. You deserve that. It was all we wanted for you, when you were with Neal. But it was obvious that idiot wasn't ever gonna make it happen."

Emma nodded her agreement, as she pondered over just how much more to tell David. In the end, she decided that showing him the man who had captured her heart might be more reassuring, than trying to avoid more of her deputy's questions.

"This is Killian," she explained, pulling up a picture he had taken of the two of them together, before he'd left Storybrooke.

She handed her phone over to David, and he took a moment to take in the man that was featured in the picture, before his eyes landed on Emma. David had never seen her looking so happy and carefree before. Emma's effortless and easy smile made his friend look all the more beautiful, in the moment that had been captured.

"You look happy," was all he said though, knowing that Emma wouldn't appreciate his mushy sentiments.

"I am," she assured him. "I mean, I'd be happier if he didn't live in Canada, but we can work around that."

"Canada?" David asked, as he slid the phone back over the desk. "Jesus, Ems. You really know how to pick them."

"Yeah, I do," she agreed, with a chuckle. "But Killian's a good guy, David. He's not Neal. You don't have to worry about him, or me."

* * *

"Hey Man, how's it going?" Robin asked, as he took his seat next to Killian, while the crew worked on the reset. Robin had taken the start of the week off, to celebrate his wife's birthday, and had managed to miss most of his best friend's moping. Of course, the rest of the cast hadn't, and Robin had been informed by multiple sources that Killian hadn't been in the best of moods.

"How is it is physically possible to ship Hook with the floor?" Killian wondered, as his fingers flew over the screen of his phone.

"I um… what?"

"Apparently there's this thing online, about Hook and the floor. I'm just wondering how that works," Killian continued, completely oblivious to his friend's confusion. "I mean, is it some kind of weird fetish? Do people actually fall in love with floors? I've read those stories about people who claim to be in love with inanimate objects, but I always assumed they were either jokes, or mentally unstable."

"Have you been drinking?" Robin demanded, as he leaned over to attempt to sniff his friend's breath.

"What? No," Killian scoffed, pushing him away. "I was just told about this whole Captain Floor thing, and someone sent me some links… now I'm a little confused."

"If it's a fandom thing then I'm always confused," Robin snorted. "It's best not to question that kind of stuff." Killian seemed to nod his agreement with his friend's suggestion, and quickly pocketed his phone, before Robin asked, "So… how was your weekend? I hear you've not been in the best of moods this week."

"Of course you have. Nobody here can ever keep shit to themselves," Killian grumbled, as he pushed out of his chair. He had nowhere to be, but that urge to run back to Emma was building again, and he needed to walk that off, before he followed through on it. His credit card company had already called to ask why he kept booking flights to Maine, and then cancelling them, less than an hour later.

"Hey. We're just worried about you," Robin argued. "What's going on with you, Killian?"

"I just… I spent the weekend with Emma," he finally admitted, flopping back down into his seat like the hormonal teenager he felt, in that moment. "I miss her."

"So… go and see her when you finish work?"

"Thank you, Einstein," Killian snapped. "Of course, I hadn't thought of that." When Robin raised a brow at his outburst, Killian explained, "She lives in Maine. It's a seven-hour flight, and then another four hours by car, to get from her tiny little town to the nearest airport."

"Well, how the hell was I supposed to know that?" If his friend had been more open about the woman he was dating, Robin would have already known this stuff. "So, it's a long distance kinda thing?"

"Yeah," Killian admitted. "And it's not as easy, or romantic, as the movies make it look."

"Sorry mate," Robin offered. "How'd you guys meet anyway? I didn't realize you spent time in Maine."

"We met at a hotel," Killian deflected. His best friend didn't need to know that it was for a convention weekend, just yet.

"Very classy," Robin snorted. "Well… I hope you get to see her again soon."

"Yeah. Me too," Killian mumbled sadly, as the director started calling them back to set.

He pulled his phone out one final time, to check for Emma's reply. But there were no new notifications on his lock screen.

* * *

Emma was pulling a late shift at the station when Leroy's bombshell finally detonated in Storybrooke, three days after he had dropped it.

"So, you had a date?"

She finished the page she had been working on, before she turned her attention up to the man who was now lingering in her office doorway.

"Yeah, I did."

"First date?" he asked.

"No," she sighed. "We've been seeing each other for a few weeks now."

"Was it _him_?" he demanded, as he inched closer to her desk.

"Does it really matter?" Emma finally snapped, as she slammed her pen down on the desk. "Things between us are over, Neal. Do you really care about who it is that I'm dating?"

"Of course it matters," he barked back. "I wanna know if this guy you were flaunting all over town is the same guy you decided to kiss while you were away on one of your stupid convention weekends."

"I'm not flaunting _anybody_ around town," she sighed. "He came to visit, and we ran into Granny at the diner, Marco when we went out for dinner, and Leroy _after_ dinner. That is not anybody's definition of flaunting."

"It's flaunting when you do it in _my_ town," Neal countered. "Do you have any idea how humiliating that is?"

"Gee, let me think?" Emma's leg bounced restlessly under the desk with her frustration. Things had been going so well for her recently. She should have known that Killian's visit in town would end up causing some kind of drama. (Not that she would ever have asked him to leave). "It couldn't be any more humiliating than finding out the whole town knew your fiancé was running around kissing other women, while you were engaged, but didn't think you'd have the balls to _actually_ kick him out of your life, could it?"

"That's not the same."

"How is that not the same?" Emma demanded. "At least the only person to _actually_ see us kissing was Leroy, and not half the fucking town. At least _we_ were broken up when I was caught kissing another man. So tell me, Neal, how is this not the same?"

"Because people were expecting us to get back together," he fired back. "You've made me look stupid now."

"If _you_ were expecting us to get back together and pandered to their expectations, then you've made _yourself_ look stupid," she snarled. "I made it perfectly clear that things between us were over, Neal. Now… I'm done with this conversation. I'd like to go home and call my boyfriend. So unless you wanna spend the night in a cell, I'd suggest you get the hell out of my office."

Neal looked like he wanted to protest, but Emma's entire stance was radiating that she was over his bullshit. So instead, he sneered a final, "This isn't over," at her, before he turned on his heels and stormed out of the station. He made sure to slam every door along the way, acting like the petulant child Emma knew him to be.

She took a few moments to allow the silence of the empty building to calm her a little. Once her hands had stopped shaking with her anger, she finally began her ritual of closing down the station for the evening.

* * *

"Well, hello Captain," Emma purred, as he answered her call later that evening. Her boyfriend looked absolutely exhausted, but all of that leather and eyeliner was making her thighs clench in anticipation.

Killian had forgone the promise of calling Emma when he made it back to Vancouver, and instead, had opted to Facetime her. He had wanted to see his girlfriend again, even if it had only been thirteen hours since they had said goodbye. He'd given her a tour of his apartment that evening, and finally crashed with only a few hours left to sleep, before he'd need to be on set. Emma felt awful for keeping him up for so long, but she knew that he would have it no other way.

Since then, they'd settled into an easy routine. They'd send dozens of messages throughout the day, detailing the small things that had happened in their lives since they'd last spoken, that they thought the other would find interesting. Every evening they'd make time for a video call, even if it was only for a few moments, just to see each other again.

It didn't compare to being in the same room, but being able to see each other's face was making the distance between the two of them that much more bearable.

"Evening, Sheriff." He winked for added effect and Emma once again cursed the miles keeping the two of them apart. Somehow, Killian managed to look even better as her beloved Captain Hook that evening than he did on the show, every week. "How was your day?"

"It started well enough," Emma chuckled. "I got this meet and greet for a _really_ handsome actor I like. I here he's a dab hand at taking a selfie," she teased. "But, it kind of ended on a low note."

"Well, I wanna hear all about this handsome actor," Killian assured her, "But first, I wanna know what happened to put that despondent look on your face."

"Neal came to see me at work," she whispered quietly.

"Are you okay? What did he say?" For a guy dressed entirely in leather, and wearing eyeliner, Killian managed to pull of concerned and serious really well, in that moment. Emma was half worried he'd book the next flight over, just to make sure Neal hadn't hurt her.

"He was just angry about you, I guess. He kind of accused me of humiliating him, in front of the whole town."

"Oh, like the way the entire town knew he was cheating on you?" Killian scoffed. " _Please_. He's probably just pissed that you're moving on, and he's now gotta face the fact that he lost the best thing to ever happen to him."

Emma chuckled a little over the line and Killian turned startled eyes her way. He had been expecting Neal to confront her ever since Emma had mentioned his reaction in the diner, Monday morning. He'd also been expecting the arsehole to upset his girlfriend.

He had not been expecting laughter.

"Sorry," she snorted, the look on his face only making her laugh harder. "It's just, that was exactly what I said to him. I love that we're on the same page here."

"Of course we are," Killian chuckled. "That's what happens when you're in a healthy and loving relationship."

Emma sobered immediately at his words. She hadn't thought of things that way before. She was starting to realize that her relationship with Neal hadn't been the most healthy in her life, but given her upbringing, Emma didn't have any examples of a loving relationship to compare it to. Now that she had Killian in her life, setting a fine standard for what healthy and loving was, Emma could see just how much she had missed out on. How much she had deprived herself of, while she had been blinded by her loyalty to Neal.

"Yeah. I guess it is," she agreed.

Killian left a comfortable silence hanging between them for a moment, to allow Emma some time to absorb his words, before he finally asked, "Now… tell me about this actor. Handsome, did you say?"

Emma giggled once more as she sank down onto her bed, to make herself more comfortable. Ruby was making them both dinner, but she didn't want to be _that_ person. The one who gushed over her boyfriend, and flaunted her love life over the phone, while ignoring her friend who was sat in the same room.

"Devastatingly handsome," she confirmed. "Like… unnaturally handsome. It really isn't fair to the male population. He sets such high standards for the rest of them to meet." Emma watched with some satisfaction as a blush began climbing its way up Killian's throat, covering his cheeks and turning the tops of his ears bright red at her compliment. "I managed to snag one of his meet and greets for the Chicago weekend. It was tough though. I've never been in such a nerve-wracking auction before. eBay's gonna be a real disappointment from now on."

Killian laughed a little at her excitement. Seeing Emma happy never failed to make him smile. "And, how much did that set you back?" he asked, genuinely curious. He knew that the meet and greets were auctioned off. But he'd never gone looking to see how much they went for. He had a feeling he'd be horrified if he did.

Emma blushed a little herself, as she mumbled some kind of reply, too low and too fast for him to make sense of.

"I'm sorry. I didn't quite catch that," he teased.

"You're really popular, okay?" she defended hotly. "And I kinda got caught up in the bidding."

"Seriously, Emma. How much did you pay?" he asked, his curiosity growing by the second.

"Eight hundred," she whispered, hoping that the line wouldn't be clear enough for Killian to hear her.

"I'm sorry, I could have sworn you just said that you paid eight-hundred dollars for a meet and greet with me." When she nodded her agreement, Killian scrubbed a harsh hand over his face. "Jesus Christ, for those prices I should be offering lap dances," he remarked. "I _told_ you not to waste your money on me, Emma. We will literally be seeing each other outside of the event. One-on-one. Naked. You didn't need to spend that for half-an-hour with me, in a room with ten other people."

"I wanted to," she assured him. "I enjoy the events, Killian. Every aspect of them. Not just being with you. This is one area I haven't had a chance to explore yet. And now I will. I hear you don't tend to sell for less than what I paid anyway, so I got a good deal."

Killian wanted to protest some more. He wanted to insist that Emma should stop spending the money she'd worked so hard for, and saved for years, on him. She didn't need to spend money to see him. Hell, Killian would spend that money on her behalf, if it meant getting to hold her in his arms once more. But, he also knew, deep down, that if the situation had been reversed, he would gladly have paid whatever was being asked, to spend time with her. Complaining too much would just make him a hypocrite, so instead, he changed the subject.

"Okay, when are you flying into Chicago?" he asked. "I'm gonna see if I can finish early for the week and meet you there, before your friend arrives."

* * *

Emma was a little surprised to pull open her front door, half-an-hour before the new Fairytales episode was due to air, to find Mary-Margaret stood on the other side of it, with a bottle of wine in hand.

"Can I join you ladies?" she asked.

"Of course." Emma pulled the door open a little wider, and gestured for her friend to come in. "Is everything okay?" Mary-Margaret usually called before she visited anyone. Turning up unannounced on the doorstep was something she deemed rude.

"I just needed a night away. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not," Emma assured her. "Sit down and I'll grab you a drink. Are you still breastfeeding?"

Mary-Margaret nodded her head, so she made sure to grab some of the sparkling apple juice her friend loved, before heading back through to the lounge.

"Okay. What's up?" Ruby asked, getting straight to the point as usual. They both knew something had to have happened for their friend to show up unannounced, so late on a Sunday evening.

"Leo's cutting another tooth, and this one seems worse than the last," their friend explained. "He's in so much discomfort, and nothing I'm doing seems to be helping." Ruby shimmied her way across the sofa to wrap a comforting arm around her friend's shoulders, as she watched Mary-Margret's eyes fill with tears. "I just feel like such a bad mom for not being able to help my son."

"You're not a bad mom," Ruby scoffed. "You're doing all you can."

Emma nodded her agreement. "Hell, if there's anyone in this town who can assure you that you're not a bad mother, it's me," she added.

"David told me to get out for a little, just to clear my head. And I couldn't think of anywhere else to go."

"You're always welcome here," Emma assured her. "We're getting ready to watch Fairytales, if you wanna join us?"

"Is that guy who plays Captain Hook still in it?" she asked, reaching up to brush away her tears. Logically, Mary-Margret knew that she was overreacting. But the hormones still rushing through her body often left her close to tears at the smallest of problems. And seeing her son wail in agony was _not_ a small problem.

"Oh yeah," Ruby chuckled. "Why do you think we still watch it?" She watched as Emma opened the bottle of wine their friend had brought with her, pouring out two glasses, before she topped up Mary-Margret's own glass of sparkling juice. There was a comfortable silence in the room while Emma flicked on the television, making sure it was on the right channel, before Ruby suddenly added, "Did you know we'd met him?"

"Pardon?" Mary-Margret asked, as Emma shot her friend a look of warning.

"Emma and I have met Killian Jones," she explained easily. "We went to a couple of the conventions for the show, and he was there."

"When did this happen?"

"A few months ago. Show her the pictures," Ruby encouraged.

"Wanna help me get them?" Emma hissed back at her.

As soon as the two of them were far enough away, Emma turned to ask, "What the hell are you doing?"

"Cheering our friend up," Ruby replied, like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"By telling her about Killian?"

"No. By telling her we have met him at a convention. Look, Ems, I know you don't like lying to her, and she enjoys the show. So, why not be honest about some of it? People go to these events all the time. Nobody will have expected the two of you to have fallen in love. Why not share this part of your life with her? You don't need to tell her it's Killian you're dating. But I bet she'd appreciate knowing some of those stories we've heard in panels. And if it'll take her mind off Leo and his pain for a few moments, surely it's worth it?"

"I guess," Emma reluctantly agreed. She couldn't imagine Mary-Margret telling David about their adventures, and even if she did, she was sure David wouldn't make the connection between _her_ Killian, and the one who played a pirate every week on television. "But don't you dare take her those handcuff photo ops."

"Oh, God no," Ruby agreed. "That would be _far_ too obvious. I'd be willing to bet a month's worth of tips that the photographer knows you guys are fucking, after taking those."

"We were not fucking when those pictures were taken," Emma argued.

"No… that's next year's poses." Her friend threw a cheeky wink over her shoulder.

* * *

"I can't believe you've both met that man," Mary-Margret sighed, as Emma switched off their television. She wanted to declare than in less than a week's time, she'd have met him again. But she knew that was a little too much information. "Is he as good looking in person as he is on screen?"

"Better," Ruby teased. "And that accent is just heavenly. I need to see if I can convince Victor to learn how to do one. For when we're alone."

"Ruby," Emma scolded, looking thoroughly disgusted by the information her friend had just revealed about her sex life. Emma loved her boyfriend's natural accent. But the thought of Ruby planning to use it in her own relationship, with the town doctor (of all people), was a little disturbing.

"I'm just teasing," she assured her friend. "What are you doing?"

"Tweeting about the episode." It was the same thing Emma did every Sunday evening, after the show had aired. Killian didn't follow her on his official social media accounts, because he knew that would draw too much attention to her. But she knew that he was aware of her handle. And he quite often liked the comments she made about the show, after it had aired. (Along with a few random others to throw people off). It was a tradition that always left Emma squealing a little internally. This time last year, the fangirl inside of her had never imagined she'd be noticed by her idol, on Twitter.

Sometimes, everything about their relationship still felt a little surreal to her.

"Can I come with you next time?" Mary-Margret interrupted softly, and both women turned to face her.

"Come with us where?"

"To a convention. I'd love to meet Killian Jones. I bet he's just dreamy. And if you two are there, I'm sure I'll have a wonderful time. I mean, I enjoy the show. So, why not?"

Emma and Ruby shared a quick look behind their friend's back, that clearly said Emma needed to be the one to handle this, before she sighed and turned to face her friend.

"There's only one left this year," she began. She didn't want to get into the specifics, because Mary-Margret was far too perceptive for her own good. "But, we were thinking about doing Vancouver next year, if you wanted to join us?" Belle, Regina and Ashley had already booked their tickets for the weekend, so Emma knew that she would be able to sort something out for Mary-Margret and Ruby, should they want to join the group.

"Oh, that sounds perfect," her friend gushed. "When is it? I'll pencil it in now. Do you think Granny would mind watching Leo while David works?"

"Granny will never object to watching Leo," Ruby chuckled. "You have nothing to worry about there."

Emma fiddled with her phone to pull up the dates for the weakened in Vancouver, to pass along to Mary-Margret, but paused at the notification that flashed over the top of her screen.

"What are you smiling at?" Ruby asked knowingly.

"Killian Jones liked my tweet."

* * *

 **As a small note, Killian's reaction here to the price of his meet and greets is based on another actor's reaction to finding out how much his meet and greets sell for (they normally always go for over $1,000). It was a moment I won't forget.**

 **Next chapter, we're heading to Chicago.**

 **For my wonderful guest reviewer, I just wanted to let you know that I did some research on the last chapter while I was writing it, and apparently, according to Emma in the episode The Price of Gold she says Boston is 4 hours away from Storybrooke. So I used that time for this piece to stick as close to canon in that respect as I could. But I thought it was a little odd too.**

 **Big thanks to all of the wonderful guest reviewers, Whitney1278, Alexa and Luna for all of the sweet reviews I couldn't reply to.**

 **Thanks for reading.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Thanks again for all of your support on this piece.**

* * *

"Miss. Swan, do come in."

"Sheriff Swan," Emma corrected, as she closed the door behind herself, and made her way round to one of the chairs in front of the familiar glass desk.

"Of course," the mayor dismissed easily, his attention focused on the computer screen in front of him.

Emma hated that she was ending her working week with her usual visit to his office once more. If there was anything guaranteed to ruin her mood, this was it. But she had sucked it up and arrived on time for their meeting, like the responsible adult she was supposed to be.

"I hear you're taking another vacation this weekend," Gold began.

If it had been anyone else, Emma would have thought it was an invitation to start a conversation. Coming from Gold, she knew it was the start of his inquisition.

"With all due respect, Mr. Mayor, I'm not sure my vacation time is any of your business," she told him.

"I beg to disagree." He finally pulled his eyes away from the computer in front of him, to fix Emma with a hard stare. "As mayor of this town, vacations that our public servants take are every bit of my business, if they are deemed to be inappropriate or too frequent."

Emma chuckled bitterly, as she stood from her seat. She wasn't paid anywhere near enough to deal with his shit, and she was starting to lose her patience with it. "As mayor of this town," she countered, "you'd know that I haven't even reached my yearly allowance of vacation time yet. Which means that you can't stop me from leaving for the weekend. And as mayor of this town, you'll also know that using the former relationship I had with your son to try and bully me into doing what you want is an abuse of power. As such, I could call for a town meeting and have you forcefully removed from your position. You and I both know that you don't want that. So I think this meeting can wait until I return."

"If you think anyone would vote against me, you're delusional," Gold warned.

"Maybe, maybe not. But I don't think you're willing to risk taking that chance." When Gold said nothing else, Emma made her way over to his office door.

She knew that if she had to force a vote, there was no guarantee that the majority of the town would back her up. They were too scared of the consequence that could come from voting against the most powerful person in town. And they all knew that he'd find a way to work out exactly who had placed their votes against him, and make them suffer for it. But Emma also knew that Gold was aware there was no guarantee that the town would back him either. A lot of the small business owners were sick of struggling to make ends meet, given his yearly rent hikes. And those were the people who held the most power to remove him from his current position.

"Have a good weekend, Mr. Gold," she told him, before leaving just as quickly as she had entered the room.

* * *

Emma's plane finally touched down in Chicago on Thursday afternoon. Killian had been told he would be able to finish early for the weekend, so he would be flying out as soon as he had finished shooting that day. It wouldn't give the two of them long together outside of the event, but Emma would take any additional hours she could get with him.

He'd managed to extend the room booking that the convention had made for him, and had added her own name to it, knowing that she would be likely to arrive in the city before he would. However, that didn't stop Emma's doubts from creeping in when she arrived at the check-in desk, that day.

"I have a reservation under Swan," she told the rather severe looking woman behind the desk.

"I'm sorry, I don't see one here," the other woman replied, offering her a tight smile.

"Can you check again?" Emma asked politely. "I should be down as a named guest on a reservation for Jones."

The woman turned back to her computer with a frown, clearly not expecting to find Emma's reservation in the system. Emma could tell the moment she did, because her face dropped a little in surprise. "Ah, yes. You're here. My apologies." The smile she offered this time was no better than the previous one she'd given to Emma, as she activated a keycard and slipped it into a small folder, with details of the room printed onto it. "Enjoy your stay."

"I will."

Of that, Emma was absolutely certain.

She should have been expecting the grandeur of the suite the organizers had booked for the two of them, given her previous visit to his room in New Jersey. But it still took her breath away as she pushed open the door to her home for the weekend. The large open planned room featured floor-to-ceiling windows on two sides, offering impressive views of the city from every angle. There was a plush looking cream sofa in front of one of the windows, facing a small wall on which a large flat-screen television had been mounted. On the other side of the wall was yet another large flat-screen, that was positioned directly opposite a lush looking bed.

The room also contained a small but perfectly functioning kitchen area, that Emma was surprised to find already well stocked with some essentials such as bread, eggs and milk. Along with a fully maintained minibar.

There were two other doors in the room. One lead to a small closet, which Emma made use of immediately. She unpacked her stuff for the weekend, making a mental note to put the small iron inside of it to good use before Killian arrived, and stored her suitcase away safely. The second led to a luxurious looking bathroom, complete with a large shower stall and a fully stocked shelving unit (which housed the softest towels that Emma had ever felt before in her life, and a collection of luxury toiletries for their use). But perhaps the most appealing feature of the room was the large bathtub that sat in the center of it. Emma's own bathroom back home in Storybrooke was too small for a bathtub. So she planned to put the one in their suite to good use, for the duration of her stay.

When she was finished exploring the suite, Emma flopped down onto the bed, and pulled out her phone to fire off a quick message to Killian, as she did. She knew he worried about her while she was travelling, and even though he was probably in the middle of filming a scene, she wanted to put his mind to rest.

She took a picture of herself, laying on the bed they would soon be sharing once more, with her blonde hair fanned out around her face, and attached it to her message.

 _Made it to Chicago safely, and the room is amazing! It's much nicer than the last one you had. Strange that, don't you think?_

 _I'll be headed over to the con hotel soon for pre-registration._

 _Love you._

She wasn't surprised to feel her phone vibrate in her pocket a few moments later, even though she had told herself not to expect an immediate reply.

 **We're almost done here, and then I'll head straight to the airport.**

 **I can't wait to see you again.**

 **You look so beautiful spread across that bed.**

 **I can't wait until I have you naked and writhing underneath my hands, on it.**

 **How much trouble do you think we'll get into if I never let you leave the room?**

 **Love you more. X**

Emma giggled a little as she read Killian's message through again. His love and praise had been a constant in their relationship, even while they had been separated. But it still never failed to make her feel like a teenager, discovering love for the very first time.

* * *

Killian sighed as the director yelled, "Cut" once more. He'd been assured that all they needed from him that day was two very easy scenes, and then he could leave for the weekend. The two very easy scenes had turned into three very difficult ones, and he was still stuck on set two hours after he had hoped to leave it.

"What's wrong with you?" Robin asked, as they waited for everyone else to get back into their starting positions.

"I'm gonna miss my flight if this continues."

"I thought you didn't have to be in Chicago until Saturday morning?" Robin was also attending the convention, and he knew that his own flight had been arranged for Friday evening, when they were scheduled to finish filming.

"I'm meeting Emma there early," Killian replied. "Although, at this rate, we're gonna get no time together before the weekend."

"Will I get to meet Emma this weekend?" Robin wondered quietly.

Killian pulled his eyes away from where he had been glaring in the general direction of their production team, and over to his friend. He hadn't been planning to introduce Emma and Robin any time soon. He wasn't ashamed of his connection to either of them. He had just selfishly wanted as much time with his girlfriend as he could get. And he already knew that the convention would eat into that. Introducing the two of them would lead to less time being spent naked and alone with the woman he loved, and more time answering all of the awkward questions he knew his friend would have.

"Maybe," he hedged. "I um, I just wanna spend as much time with her as I can. And with it being a convention weekend, and filming overrunning here today, I'm not sure how much time we'll _actually_ get together."

Robin didn't look terribly convinced by his friend's answer, but he nodded his understanding anyway. There was a moment of awkward silence between the two of them, before he finally turned to his friend to say, "You know… I'm not gonna judge you, right?"

"Huh?" Killian wasn't exactly sure where his friend was going with his line of enquiry.

"Love is love, Man," Robin replied, like that somehow answered all of his friend's questions. It took a moment for the words to sink in, and even longer for Killian to understand them.

"You've seen a picture of Emma. She's definitely a _she_ ," Killian protested. "I'm not hiding her away because I'm secretly gay and trying to disguise it. I'm hiding her away because I love her, and I want to protect her. She has a dangerous job, that also makes her easy to find. I'm not painting that target on her back for the slightly more obsessive fans we have."

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that. Sorry Dude," Robin chuckled. "But… what kind of job does she have that is both dangerous, and makes her easy to find?"

Killian considered his reply for a moment. Telling Robin would give him all the information he needed to find Emma, should he want to. But, he couldn't imagine his best friend ever doing such a thing. While he might have been curious about the new woman in his friend's life, he wasn't nosy enough to intentionally invade her privacy.

"She's a sheriff."

"Sheriff?" Robin turned back to face his friend as a look of complete shock worked its way over his features. "As in, like a cop?"

"Do you know of any other kind?" Killian teased. "She's the one responsible for keeping the peace in the town she lives in."

"Shit, Dude. You couldn't have picked a girl with a less-scary job to date?"

"I dunno… I think it's kinda hot," Killian explained, as the two of them were finally called back to set. "I mean… who doesn't enjoy being handcuffed to a bed by a beautiful woman, who carries a badge and gun, every now and then?"

Robin almost tripped over his own feet at the mental image his friend had painted for him.

* * *

Emma checked her phone once more, as she slipped the driver a few bills and slid out of the cab. Killian's hotel for the weekend was slightly further away than what would be deemed a comfortable walking-distance to the event, so she had called for a taxi to pick her up, and drop her off. Her boyfriend had a driver that would be responsible for fulfilling that duty for him, when he arrived. But she didn't want to take advantage of the services the organizers were offering Killian any further than she already was.

The man in question was late making his arrival into Chicago. He'd messaged Emma throughout the day with progress reports on his scenes at work, and she could sense the growing frustration behind every one of them. Killian's day had gotten longer and more difficult than he had originally planned for. Which meant that he'd been on set for longer than he had intended to be. When he had finally slipped away, it was to end up stuck in rush-hour traffic on his way to the airport.

He'd called her a little over an hour ago full of apologies, his tone hard with frustration and disappointment, as he reported that he had missed his flight.

Emma had told him not to worry, that she could spend her evening registering for the weekend, and would be back at the hotel, waiting for his arrival. Killian had been able to book the next flight out, which wouldn't see him landing until close to ten _pm_. But it was a more preferable option to the indirect flights that wouldn't put him in the state until the following morning.

So, while Killian booked and checked in for his next flight, Emma had ordered some room service for dinner, before her taxi had arrived to take her to the hotel the event was being held at.

Belle's flight would land first thing Friday morning, which meant she was on her own for pre-registration, but that didn't bother Emma too much. She'd gotten so used to being at events now, that conversing with the people in line both in front and behind her came naturally.

The two teenage girls in front of her had flown in from Miami to meet Killian Jones that weekend. Emma had taken great pleasure in reassuring them that he would be worth their long journey, as she showed them some of her hugs with him at past conventions. The girls had never attended an event before, and seemed to appreciate having someone to talk to who had, as they grilled her for hints and tips on how the weekend would go.

The couple behind Emma had come to see Killian's female co-stars. They had met online, through their love of the show, and had fallen in love. Mulan and Aurora were planning a Fairytales themed wedding later that year, and had wanted to attend the event together, as part of their engagement celebrations.

Between the four new friends Emma had made, they kept her mind off her delayed boyfriend, and helped to build her excitement for the weekend even higher, as she collected her badge and swapped out her PDFs for actual tickets.

* * *

When Killian's plane finally touched down at O'Hare International, it was over four hours later than his planned arrival time. He'd called ahead to book a rental car for the weekend, and was happy to skip the long queue of people waiting to be seen, in order to collect his keys and documentation. He really didn't need any more delays on his way back to Emma's side.

Of course, he'd only been driving for around six minutes when he hit traffic in the city that ground his journey to a complete stop.

"You have got to be kidding me," he groaned, as he ran a frustrated hand through his hair. "I _just_ wanna kiss my girlfriend. Is that really so much to ask for?"

He flicked off the GPS on his phone to pull up his messages once more. The last time he'd heard from Emma, she had made some new friends in the registration queues, and had grabbed a quick drink with them, before she had headed back to the hotel. But that was over an hour before his flight had landed, and Killian's last message to his girlfriend had gone unread since then.

He suspected that she'd simply fallen asleep waiting for him. But, Killian could never shake off that niggling worry that something bad had happened to her, and he would never get the chance to hold her again.

He tapped his thumbs restlessly against the wheel of the car, waiting for the traffic to clear before he could finally put his foot down, on his way back to Emma's side.

It took him a further eighteen minutes to pull the car into a parking space at the Marriott hotel he'd booked for the two of them. Killian practically tore his bag from the back seat of the vehicle, in his haste to get inside the building. Thankfully, so late in the evening, getting a keycard for the room proved to be no trouble at all, and Killian was soon tapping his thumbs restlessly against the handle of his bag, as he waited for the elevator carriage to ascended to the floor his suite was located on.

Emma had been right. He'd changed his contract slightly with the convention organizers to be able to book his own accommodation, and as such, he'd upgraded to something a little more fancy than the usual luxury they booked for him. He'd wanted to make Emma's stay in the city as comfortable and memorable as he possibly could. Even though he knew that deep down, she'd have been happy with any room that had a bed big enough for the two of them to curl up in together.

When the elevator finally jolted to a stop, Killian practically ran down the hall towards his suite. Sliding the keycard into the lock proved to be more difficult than it looked, as his hands shook with the knowledge that he was now _so close_ to the woman he loved.

"Emma?" he called out softly, as he finally pushed through the door. He dropped his bag to the floor, and flicked on lights to check around the room. His eyes fell easily on his beautiful girlfriend, curled up on top of the bed, on the side she had always favored, wearing what appeared to be an incredibly short, emerald-green, satin nightgown.

Killian switched the main lights in the seating area back off again, not wanting to wake her, and left the smaller lamps on, to cast a cozy glow around the room. He toed off his boots and stripped of his leather jacket, draping it over the back of a chair, as he made his way around the bed to get a good look at the woman he loved.

Emma was sleeping soundly, her long lashes fluttering lightly against her cheekbones as she dreamed. A small smile pulled at her lips every now and then, and Killian wondered if it was him that she was dreaming about, as he so often dreamed of her. He pushed the hair away from her face softly to press a kiss to her forehead, before he stood back up again.

That was the moment his eyes dropped down to take in the nightgown she was wearing.

Emerald green lace barely contained her breasts, giving him a truly wonderful view of her cleavage, before it gave way to the same satin that he'd first spotted. The gown was so short that it barely covered the tops of her thighs, giving Killian a wonderful peek at the power of the muscles hidden beneath her skin. All of the running Emma did every morning was evident in the way they flexed as she moved in her sleep.

The longer Killian stood and watched her, the more his body ached for her.

He pulled off his shirt, and kicked off his jeans as quietly as he could, before sliding onto the bed behind her, to pull Emma back and into his arms.

"Hey," she mumbled sleepily, as she felt him bury his face into the crook of her neck, while his arm came around her waist, to hold her tight.

"Hi, Sweetheart. I'm sorry I'm late." Killian's brain was screaming at him to let her sleep, but he couldn't seem to stop himself from pressing kisses into the bare skin of her back.

"I'm sorry I fell asleep," she sighed, as she reached back to tug him impossibly closer.

"Don't be." He whispered the words between slightly more desperate kisses, as he shimmied down the bed a little to cover more of her bare back. "I missed you so much, Beautiful."

"I missed you too." Emma moaned sweetly as he ran his nose down her spine, to begin gently teasing around where the edges of her nightgown sat.

"Was this for me?" he wondered, as he continued to play just around the edges, careful not to dip below the fabric too soon.

"Yes," she sighed. "I wanted to look good for you."

"You always do," he assured her. Emma didn't need pretty lingerie and dresses to impress him. She did that enough just by being herself. But he'd been separated from her for far too long to be able to keep his hands to himself that evening, and so he asked, "Are you too tired for this?"

"Not at all," she assured him, sounding more awake and alert than she had since he'd first entered the room.

"Good." Killian's kisses turned into sweet nips of flesh, and teasing flicks of his tongue, as he began covering every inch of her bare skin with his love and affection. "I want you."

"I want you too," she gasped out, as one of his hands slipped up her side, to gently tease around her left breast, through the lace of her gown. "Oh God, Killian. I want you so much."

She reached back with her free hand to push his boxer briefs down, and Killian pulled away just long enough to kick his legs free of them, before he was sliding himself back up the bed, to tuck in behind Emma perfectly.

"Are you okay like this?" he whispered softly, as his hand traced patterns into Emma's hip, slowly pushing her gown further up her thighs.

Emma had never had sex in the position Killian was suggesting before, but everything about the way he was pressed tightly behind her, with his cock resting hard and heavy against her ass, was screaming that this was right. So she nodded her agreement, before assuring him, "Yes. Please. I don't wanna wait any longer, Killian."

"Tell me if it gets uncomfortable," he begged, as he hitched the skirt of her gown the rest of the way up, to give him clear access to her body.

Emma practically melted into his arms at the way he teased his fingers across her intimately, making sure she was ready for him before he even thought about taking the next step that evening. She loved how considerate and patient he was when they were together, even when his own desperation hung heavy in the air between them. No other man had ever made her feel like her comfort and enjoyment mattered to them, as much as Killian did.

"I will," she assured him, through those soft moans he'd come to love so much since his weekend with her in Storybrooke. "Please, Killian." Emma just had enough presence of mind to reach forward and grab one of the condoms she had stashed in the bedside drawer for him.

While she normally loved the way he could tease her to completion before he'd even thought of entering her, Emma was in no mood to be teased that evening. She'd waited long enough to be reunited with her boyfriend.

The teasing could come later.

Killian pulled back just far enough to open the small foil package, and roll the latex down over his cock. When he was finished, he once more fitted himself to her back, keeping the two of them pressed together as tightly as he possibly could.

Emma dropped her head on to Killian's shoulder as she ran her hand through his hair, to anchor the two of them together. He slipped his own down the center of her body, as he continued to press kisses into her naked back. When he found the flesh of her left thigh, he gently pulled it up and over his own.

"I love you," he whispered, as he teased himself softly over where she was aching most for him, before finally sliding himself in, painfully slowly.

"Killian," Emma whined.

"I know," he soothed. He wanted to bury himself within the warmth of her body just as much as she wanted it. But he kept his pace even and unhurried, as he allowed Emma the time she would need to adjust to the slight stretch and burn from the position they were in. It was only when she finally began moving her hips, to pull him in deeper, that Killian increased his own pace.

"Always so warm and wet, Darling," he praised. His voice was rough and raw with his passion, and the way he was whispering his words directly in to her ear, had Emma clenching down around him. "It's like your body was built for me, and _only_ me," he growled possessively.

Emma had never been a fan of overly possessive men before. But that small streak that always seemed to emerge from Killian, in the heat of passion, was one of the sexiest things she'd ever seen before. Knowing she drove him wild made her feel powerful and heady in a way nothing else ever had.

"Yours," she agreed. "Only yours. I only ever want to be yours." She turned her head slightly, and Killian adjusted his position to lean forward and bring their lips together.

He kissed her like a man possessed. Like he couldn't get enough of her. The gentle press of his lips had transformed into sharp nips of teeth, and strong confident strokes of his tongue, to soothe the ache away. He kissed her like a dying man would kiss his love, for one last time.

"Oh God," she moaned, pulling away to suck in a harsh breath, as the sharp snap of his hips caught her off guard.

"Are you okay?" he worried. The passion in his eyes dulled slightly, as that familiar flash of concern filled his features.

"More than," she assured him. "Don't stop. Don't ever stop."

Emma would never understand how the man went from sweet and concerned to dangerously sexy in a fraction of a second. But that familiar smirk worked its way back over his face at her words, as Killian arched a brow in her direction. "Trust me, Love. I have no plans to stop until this entire hotel knows who is fucking you tonight."

"Cocky bastard," she chuckled. But there was no heat behind her words. She loved that confident streak he only ever seemed to unleash when they were alone and together.

Killian's next thrust left her thighs trembling, as he hit her _just right._

"Oh God, there," she whined. "Just like that."

He brought his hand down to tease gently around where they were joined, gathering the moisture building there to bring up, as he began rubbing soft circles around her clit.

"Oh, Killian."

"I need you to come for me," he begged. His hips were still punching out a harsh rhythm against her own, that had Emma screwing her eyes shut with every thrust. "I'm not gonna last much longer. You're too tight from this angle."

"Close," she assured him. " _So close_. I love you."

"I love you more." This time, when Killian leaned over to bring his lips down to meet Emma's they were softer and more gentle, as he pulled every ounce of pleasure from her body.

When she came, it was with a sharp cry of his name, as she arched back into his embrace. Killian's hips pumped once… twice… three times more, before he stilled as deep inside of her as he could, and moaned her name into the damp skin of her neck.

* * *

"Hi," Emma whispered, as the post-coital haze cleared, and she tilted her head up to smile up at the man holding her close.

"Hey Beautiful," he whispered back, leaning down to press a kiss to the tip of her nose.

The two of them relaxed in silence for a moment. The only sounds in the room were their harsh panting breaths, as they slowly calmed back to normal, and the gentle whisper of hands running through hair. Killian combed his fingers through Emma's, while she played with the dark strands on his chest, that she loved so much.

When she tilted her head up to make eye contact with him once more, her hand froze along the path it had been taking.

"What's wrong?" Killian asked, as he frowned down at her.

"You're still wearing eyeliner," she chuckled. "I've just never seen you wearing it in person, before."

"I came straight from set," he mumbled, as he pressed another kiss into her hair. "No wonder I was getting some odd looks at the airport."

Emma giggled once more as she pushed herself up onto her forearms, to kiss her adorable boyfriend again.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

 **I'm slowly catching up on review replies after completing Patience. I hope to have them all sent by the start of next week.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Sorry this one is a little later posting than planned. I triggered another episode with my illness and wanted to take some time off from fandom to recover.**

 **I hope this update was worth waiting for.**

* * *

Emma giggled as she felt the familiar scratch and burn of stubble against her tummy.

"It's not nice to laugh," Killian pouted.

"Sorry." She bit down on her lip to stifle the rest that wanted to spill out, but the laughter dancing behind her eyes couldn't be masked. "It's just… your eyeliner ran while you slept."

Killian grumbled as he pulled himself up to look around the room for a mirror. He really didn't want to have to leave the bed to find one. But he knew that if he wanted their morning to be memorable for all the right reasons, he'd need to clean himself up first.

Emma slipped out from under his arms and padded through to the bathroom, returning with a small black bag before he had the chance to complain. "Here," she offered, handing him a compact mirror.

He groaned when he realized why she had been laughing. Killian's eyeliner hadn't just run, it had been completely destroyed. He looked a little like Alice Cooper, only without the long, shaggy hair.

"Here," she offered again, holding out a small cotton pad that had been dampened slightly. "It's makeup remover. It should take it all off. Just wipe, don't scrub."

Killian followed her instructions while frowning down at his own reflection in the mirror, until his face was finally streak-free. "Better?" he asked, arching a brow in her direction.

"Much," Emma confirmed.

"Good. Because I believe I was just about to have breakfast." He winked salaciously at her before diving in her direction, to push her back against the bed.

Emma giggled once more as she felt him wiggle her nightgown up her thighs, while he shimmied his way back down her body. "I um… I have to meet Belle soon," she warned. "We don't have time for foreplay."

"Tell her you got held up in traffic," Killian mumbled, as he began pressing kisses to her upper thighs. "Tell her you went out for a run." His kisses turned to playful nips, soothed by the long and confident strokes of his tongue. "Or tell her you were being fucked by your boyfriend. But whatever you do, don't you dare leave this bed."

* * *

"Belle! I'm so sorry I'm late," Emma greeted, as she made her way over to the seat that had been reserved for her, next to her friend. "I went for a run this morning and completely lost track of time."

Belle was already stood and ready to pull Emma into her arms, by the time she made it to her seat. "It's okay," she assured her friend. "We've all been there. How are you, Emma?"

"I'm good," she chuckled. "I'm really good. How about you? How's Boston?"

As the girls took their seats together in the hall, ready for the start of their weekend, they caught up on everything that had happened in their lives since the last time they had seen each other. While they had made a good effort to keep in touch since the very first event they had attended together, Belle's schedule never quite seemed to line up well enough with Emma's to allow them to meet in person again.

Until Emma had brought up her trip to Chicago.

Belle had been given the weekend off work after covering for one of her colleagues earlier in the month, and had made the snap decision to join her friend in the Windy City. As much as Emma knew it would limit the time she could spend with Killian that weekend, she was happy to have her friend by her side once more. Conventions were fun, but they were even better when you were surrounded by people that you loved, just as much as the show you were there to celebrate.

"So, Ruby tells me there have been some pretty big changes in your life since we last met," Belle coaxed.

Emma sighed as she made herself more comfortable in her seat. The hotels really needed to start investing in more comfortable chairs, for events that required people to sit for long periods of time. And Ruby really needed to learn to keep her mouth shut.

"Yeah," she began awkwardly. "I um… I split up with my fiancé."

Belle clearly wasn't expecting that, as she reached out to offer her friend some comfort. "Holy shit, Emma. I thought she meant you'd started dating someone new. Not that you'd broken up with a guy. I'm so sorry."

"Oh it's nothing to be sorry about," Emma assured her. "It turns out he'd been cheating on me for a while. So I'm definitely better off without him." Belle didn't look like she believed her, but Emma could understand that. The end of a relationship was normally something to mourn, not something that should be celebrated. "I've met someone else. Someone better."

"You have?" she asked, her excitement returning once more. "This must have been what Ruby was talking about."

"Yeah," Emma chuckled. "Ruby wasn't Neal's biggest fan, so she's happy to see I've moved on from him." A thought suddenly occurred to her and Emma turned devious eyes towards her friend. "Did Ruby tell you about her own love life?"

"She mentioned something about seeing the town doctor?"

"Did she tell you he tried hitting on me before they started dating?" Emma giggled.

"No! Go on."

Emma filled the rest of their wait by telling Belle all about Ruby's new relationship, and it's rather rocky beginning. She hadn't expected this thing between her friend and the town doctor to last as long as it had. Whale had a reputation in town for sleeping his way through the female population, and as much as Emma loved her friend, Ruby's wasn't much better. She'd honestly expected them to part ways after a few satisfying nights together, only to exchange awkward greetings at Granny's as a result of that.

But Emma had been wrong.

For the first time in her life, Ruby had found someone that made her gush and giggle like a teenager, and Emma couldn't be happy for her. Her best friend deserved to be loved. She deserved to feel the way that Killian made Emma feel, every single day. And if that love was coming from Dr. Whale, then Emma would gladly continue to support their relationship.

* * *

The morning passed by rather quickly.

Between the panels, while they waited for their next guest to take to the stage, Emma would message Killian. He was apparently making the most of his free time and enjoying the facilities the hotel had to offer, if the picture he'd sent her of himself in a face mask was anything to judge by.

A handful of new guests had been booked for the weekend that Emma had not yet had the pleasure of meeting. Their stage talks helped to keep her mind off her handsome boyfriend, eagerly waiting for her to return. She felt awful for leaving Killian alone all day, but Emma also knew that she would have felt much worse if she'd blown-off her friend that morning. Belle had gone to so much trouble to see her once again, and she wanted to make the most of their limited time together.

The girls both had a photo op booked with one of the new guests before they broke for lunch. While Emma normally limited her convention spending to everything related to Killian, she had decided to branch out a little this time, given how many events she had attended. The show held a great deal of meaning to her, and not just because she was currently dating its lead actor. The connection it had to classic fairytales still offered her all of the comfort her old book had given to her, as a child. And since it had been on the air, she'd used the show as an escape from the troubles and monotony of her life on more occasions than she would care to admit.

Emma wanted to use the conventions as a way to make special memories of something that meant so much to her.

(She would also be lying if she didn't admit that she was secretly hoping showing Killian her photo ops later that evening would result in some incredibly hot and jealous sex.

Emma would have to be insane not to want that).

The photo op itself, however, was a little awkward for her. She was so used to Killian taking the lead that when it came to asking for a pose, she was at a complete loss for words. For some reason, talking had come easier around him, even if it had been painfully awkward in the beginning. Eventually she settled for just asking the poor guy for a quick hug. Emma hoped like hell that she had managed to smile for the picture, before she practically sprinted out of the room to wait for Belle.

When she finally took her seat an hour later, around one of the small tables in the restaurant that the two of them had found for lunch, she had to fight back the urge that was screaming at her to call her boyfriend. Emma didn't realize just how difficult it would be to have him so close, and not be by his side. But she didn't want to leave Belle alone for long periods of time either. Emma wasn't the kind of girl who forgot about her friends just because she had a new man in her life. So instead, she sent him a quick message to let him know how the day was going, and what she was doing, while Belle was using the restroom.

For the rest of their lunch, Emma gave her friend her full and undivided attention.

* * *

When they returned to the hotel once more, bellies full of chicken salad sandwiches and a shared portion of sweet potato fries, they separated briefly. Emma had booked another couple of photo ops with some of the cast she had met before, and Belle wanted to use that time to head back to her room in the hotel to freshen up.

It was the perfect opportunity for Emma to finally place a quick call to her boyfriend.

"Hey Beautiful," he greeted, not even allowing a full ring to pass before he answered her call.

"Missing me already?" she teased.

"I missed you the moment the door closed behind you." Killian's tone rang with sincerity, and it left Emma swallowing back the urge to make up some kind of excuse that would allow her to run straight back to him, once more. "Are you having a good day?" he asked, completely unaware of her internal struggle.

"I am, yeah. I wish you were here with me, but Belle and I have been having fun. We even have a few photo ops to show for our time."

"Photo ops?" he asked, as his tone hardened a little. "Who with?"

Emma giggled as she pictured Killian's face in that moment. It was a damned shame she couldn't risk switching to Facetime, because she already knew his eyes would have darkened a little at the thought of one of his male costars getting their hands on her.

"Just Charlie so far. But I'm now about to go for Jake and Amy's when we finish here."

Killian grumbled something unintelligible down the line and Emma had to bite her tongue to hold in her laughter. She couldn't wait to see his face when she actually showed him the pictures. Deep down she knew that he had nothing to worry about, and she was certain that Killian knew it too. Emma was also pretty positive that he'd already worked out how arousing she found his reaction, and would play up that possessive streak a little just to elicit a response from her. But she couldn't bring herself to be mad at him for that. Emma knew that if their situations were reversed, she would do exactly the same thing for him.

"Do you and your friend have plans for this evening?" he asked eventually, changing the subject.

"Not that I'm aware of. I was planning to tell Belle that my boyfriend had flown out with me, and that I wanted to get back to you. Why?"

"I was hoping you'd let me take you out for dinner. Your friend is more than welcome to join us, if you don't want to leave her out," he offered.

Emma's heart warmed a little at just how sweet her boyfriend was. She knew that Killian would undoubtedly rather it be just the two of them that evening. If he was feeling anywhere near as close to how she currently was, he would rather their night be spent in private, locked away in bed together, rather than socializing with other people. And she suspected that he would probably not be entirely comfortable with the idea of a fellow fan knowing about their relationship just yet either. But she loved him a little more for being willing to trust her judgement call on the situation. Because Emma also knew that Killian would never complain if she took him up on his offer, and invited Belle to join them for dinner that evening.

(Unlike Neal, who used to flat out refuse to go anywhere if Ruby was planning to join them for the occasion).

"That's a really sweet offer, but I selfishly kind of want you to myself tonight. You don't mind, do you?"

"Of course not," he assured her. "I did consider room service and a strict no clothing policy for the evening. But I want to take you out and spoil you a little. You deserve that. So I've made us a reservation, if that's okay?"

"That's fine," she chuckled. "We can implement the strict no clothing policy tomorrow night."

"Woah, someone has big plans for their weekend," snorted an oddly familiar voice to her left.

Emma lifted her head slowly as her face flamed bright red. Of course she'd be the one person in the hotel to discuss her sex life on the phone, whilst waiting to be called for a photo op. And of course, that would just happen to be the exact moment one of the actors decided to stroll down the same hall, headed for the green room.

"Oh God. Kill me now," she mumbled quietly, as the people around her laughed a little at the situation.

"What's wrong?" Killian asked, having picked up on her embarrassment.

"I um… I probably shouldn't have said that in a busy hallway," she muttered. Emma recognized one of the women from their row in the main hall stood a few feet away. She just hoped that her antics wouldn't result in her being known as the weird fangirl for the rest of the weekend.

Killian didn't seem to pick up on her utter mortification as he laughed heartily down the line. "You're adorable," he told her. "I'll let you go and get cozy with more of my co-stars. Make sure they treat you well. Call me when you're done for the day?"

"I will do. I love you." Emma stopped herself just before she could speak his name, well aware that in her current setting, it would _definitely_ give her the reputation as the crazy obsessive fangirl that weekend.

"I love you more, Sweetheart. Have fun."

* * *

"How were they?" Belle asked, as Emma slipped back into her seat, ready for the final few panels of the day.

"Both really sweet," she assured her friend. "Jake remembered me from my slip up in the hallway, so that was a little embarrassing. But definitely money well spent."

"Why? What happened in the hallway?"

Emma stared down at the toes of her boots as her face flamed once more at the memory of the incident. "I um… I was on the phone to my boyfriend when he was passing through the hall, and he may have heard me agreeing to a naked bed party at that moment in time," she mumbled.

Poor Belle looked like she was doing her best to hold back her giggles by the time Emma had finished speaking. But she was struggling to contain them. "I'm so sad I missed that," she snorted. "But I um… I can't wait to see the ops when you get them back. I'd say I'm starting to regret spending all of my money on Killian Jones, but I'm really not."

Emma chuckled into her drink as she raised it for a brief toast of agreement. She knew all too well how that felt.

"Would you mind if I skipped the karaoke party this evening?" Belle asked softly, after a moment.

"Of course not," Emma assured her. "Is everything okay?"

"My head is killing me," she admitted sheepishly. "I didn't wanna say anything to ruin the day, but the thought of my hotel bed and a dark room is _really_ appealing right now."

Emma leaned in to offer her friend an awkward side-hug. She hated that Belle was feeling a little under the weather on a weekend that was supposed to be fun for her. And she hated even more that her friend had felt the need to hide how she was feeling. "Did you take anything for it yet," she asked.

"Yeah, while I was waiting for you to get back. It's probably due to a lack of sleep. Don't worry about me."

"Of course I'm gonna worry about you," Emma scoffed. "You're my friend. That's what friends do."

Belle dropped her head down to rest against Emma's shoulder for a moment, just soaking up the comfort her friend was offering, while the hall around them began to fill. By the time their MC took to the stage once more her smile was back in place, with her excitement for the end of the day taking over her discomfort.

* * *

Emma added a few new autographs to her poster that afternoon, as well as picking up some headshots to add to her collection. Because of the pass type she always opted to purchase she was building up quite an assortment that she didn't really need. She had considered just not getting the autographs included in her pass, but after sleeping on it for a while, Emma had come up with a plan for all of her spares. She knew that some of her online friends would never get the chance to attend a convention of their own, and would never be able to build up their own collection of autographs. So she had started putting aside all of her spares, ready to mail out to the people that she knew would appreciate them the most, at the end of the year.

Belle and Emma eventually parted ways in the lobby of the hotel, with a promise to meet for coffee the following morning, before the first panel of the day. Emma practically skipped out to the taxi rank in her excitement to get back to Killian. She fired off a quick message to let him know that she was on her way back, before pulling out her photo ops to have a quick browse over.

While the first one with Charlie had been a little awkward, the ones with Jake and Amy had been much easier. Emma was incredibly happy with how they had turned out. (Although she suspected that this would only lead to her spending even more money at conventions in the future).

By the time the taxi pulled up to the entrance of her hotel, Emma was practically vibrating with her excitement for the night ahead. She didn't much care where Killian had made reservations for the two of them. All that mattered to her was being able to spend the night with the man she loved.

But as she pushed open the door to their hotel suite all conscious thought fled her mind, as her jaw dropped in awe.

"Hey, Sweetheart," Killian greeted, as he made his way over to her side to pull her into his arms for a kiss. "How was your day?"

"Fine," Emma eventually croaked out. "It was fine. You um… you look… Wow."

Killian stepped back to look down at himself, before turning his full focus back to his girlfriend. She was wearing a similar look on her face to the one she had worn the night they'd first met. He kind of loved that even though she knew him better, and far more intimately now than she had done then, he still had the ability to stun her into fangirl mode.

"Do you like the suit?" he teased.

Emma's eyes dropped down to his legs to take in the way his charcoal grey pants fitted him perfectly, before flicking back up to the black shirt he was wearing. It was unbuttoned at the top, as usual, giving her an enticing peak at his chest hair. Her gaze then slid over to the matching charcoal grey jacket that was stretched perfectly over the muscles she knew that were hidden in his torso.

He looked like one of her dirtiest dreams come to life.

"Fuck yeah," she breathed out dreamily.

Killian couldn't control his laughter as he pulled her back into his arms to offer her the sweetest of kisses. "I kinda love that I can still inspire this reaction in you," he told her, brushing his nose sweetly against her own.

"I don't think you'll ever stop making me feel like a horny fangirl when you wear a suit that well," she admitted, before pulling back a little startled. "Wait. Where are we going tonight that requires you to look that good?"

"Just a small restaurant someone recommended to me. I thought that it might be nice to dress up for the occasion?"

Emma cocked a brow in her boyfriend's direction as she asked, "Nice to dress up for the occasion, or mandatory to dress up for the occasion?" She knew that the latter would mean that they were off to somewhere far more special than Killian was letting on.

"A little of both." He shrugged adorably and Emma found that it was simply impossible to be mad at him when he did so, whilst wearing that suit.

"What time is our reservation?" she worried. She didn't think she looked too bad, but Emma knew that she didn't look anywhere near good enough for the kind of restaurant she assumed that he'd booked for the night. After spending all day at the convention, she was really hoping there would be time to shower before they left the hotel.

"Eight," he chuckled. "Go and shower. We have plenty of time. I just thought I'd get mine in before you got back, so we didn't end up running late."

"You know, I think that was a subtle dig at how long it takes me to get ready," she called over her shoulder, already headed for the bathroom. "But we don't have enough time for me to chew you out for it right now."

"I'll be sure to remind you to do so when we get back."

* * *

"Is this too much?" Emma asked, as she finally left the bathroom over an hour later.

With Ruby's help, she'd managed to order a few new dresses for the weekend, just in case Killian had wanted to leave the hotel. Emma had packed them all, hoping that she would have every situation covered. But now, as she stood in the middle of their suite waiting for her boyfriend to speak, she wasn't so sure she had.

"Killian?" she asked, finally looking up in an attempt to catch his eyes. But his seemed to be glued to her legs. "Killian!"

"Yes?" he asked, shaking his head a little to clear his mind. He knew that if he didn't, they wouldn't be leaving the hotel room at all that evening.

"Is it too much?" Emma asked nervously.

"For the entire male population to handle? Yeah. Definitely. But for the occasion? Not at all. You look incredible, Emma."

She blushed a little under his praise as she looked down at herself one final time.

Of all the things she'd bought since Killian's surprise visit to Storybrooke, this was perhaps her favorite. The moment Emma had seen the online advert for it, she had fallen in love with its unusual design. At first glance, she'd thought it to simply be a black strapless gown, with a grey velvet panel along the left side, that had been embellished with black cotton stitching. But as she scrolled through the images the website had provided, she quickly realized that there was more to the design than she had originally thought. The top was completely detached from the rest of the dress at the front. An almost triangular shaped piece of fabric covered her upper chest, but had small cutouts that left the balls of her shoulders completely bare. At the back, it was clear to see that the two pieces of fabric were connected, where it buttoned just between her shoulder blades. But the dress left her entire lower back completely bare beneath them.

Emma had suspected that Killian would enjoy that feature, given the reaction he'd had to the last backless dress she'd worn in Vegas.

As Chicago was starting to cool a little, she's added a pair of dark stockings to keep her legs warm, and the black velvet pumps she'd only ever worn around Killian.

"Thanks. I um… I should get a jacket and then we can go?"

"Yeah. Sooner rather than later," he agreed. Killian eyes were once more dropping down to her legs, completely entranced by the length of them. "Are those stockings or tights?"

Emma sent him a cheeky wink as she turned to grab her coat, and smiled to herself in satisfaction when she heard him groan low and long from behind her.

"You're turning me into a horny fanboy for you, Emma Swan," he warned. Killian waited just long enough for the coat to slide over her shoulders before he pulled her back into his arms.

* * *

Emma's jaw dropped once more when Killian pushed open the door to the restaurant for her to enter through. She had expected that he would pick somewhere fancy for the occasion, knowing that the chances of them being spotted together would be slim that way. But she hadn't expected him to pick one of the best known restaurants in the country for their date.

"Wow. This is incredible," she mumbled, as she turned to take it all in.

"I told you that you deserved to be spoiled." He chuckled as he eased her jacket off her shoulders, before he turned to greet the maître d, giving the man his name for their reservation.

The couple were led up to the first-floor gallery, that only contained a handful of tables set for parties of two or four. Most of them had already been filled for the evening, their diners already enjoying glasses of wine while they waited for their food to be served. The table that Killian had reserved for the two of them was tucked into a corner, offering them a little more privacy for their date.

"This is our wine list," the maître d explained, as he handed over a small booklet for Killian to flick through. "I'll leave you to browse through it. Your server will be over shortly to get a bottle out to you, while you wait. Dinner is served on the hour."

"This is so fancy," Emma whispered. "And expensive too. You really didn't need to go to all of this trouble for tonight, Killian."

"You deserve to be spoiled, Sweetheart. Let me do that for you?" he begged. "Now… is there anything in particular that you fancy?" he asked, sliding round to one of the free seats at their table, that would put him in touching distance of his beautiful girlfriend.

"You," Emma muttered, far too quietly for him to hear, as she slid her own seat a little closer to his. Killian wrapped his arm around her shoulders, as she bent her head to study the wine list. "You do know that I know nothing about wine, right? I just buy the brand back home that tastes the best for less than ten dollars a bottle."

Killian giggled into her shoulder as he pressed a kiss to the skin revealed there by her dress. "How about we let the server pick for us and just go with it?"

"That sounds like a fantastic plan," she declared, snapping the list shut.

* * *

"I love you," Emma mumbled sleepily as she pulled herself in closer.

"I love you too, Sweetheart," Killian chuckled, dropping a kiss into her hair.

After satisfying one type of hunger with an eighteen-course meal, the two of them had returned to their hotel suite to satisfy another kind. Killian was pretty sure Emma's heels had left their mark on his lower back, but they were marks he would wear with pride, given the way he'd made her scream his name just hours earlier. He smiled to himself as he felt the silky smoothness of her legs rub against his own, while she slept on. Emma had crashed as soon as he'd pulled her into his arms, with her stockings and suspender belt still in place. Killian hadn't known where to start removing them for her, so he'd left them both in place, hoping they wouldn't be too uncomfortable for her to sleep in.

But sleep was still eluding him.

His mind was racing as he looked down at the beautiful woman resting in his arms. Killian knew that their relationship was moving fast, even as the distance between the two of them forced them to slow down. And he knew that some of the people in his life probably wouldn't understand how he was feeling right now. How it was even possible to love someone so intensely, after only knowing them for such a short period of time.

But Killian knew that the more time he spent with Emma, the less he wanted to let her go. He might have been the one to reassure her about her own fears, the last time they were together, but he realized in that moment that they needed to have a serious conversation about their future soon. And more importantly, where it should be spent. Because there was no way he would make it through the upcoming months with them only spending the odd weekend together.

Killian reached for his phone to check the time, before pulling up the pictures he had taken that evening to flick through again. He hadn't said much to his family about his new relationship, because he would much rather explain how he'd met Emma to them in person, than over the phone. But as he flipped through images of the two of them together, interspersed with random pictures of food that looked like works of art, he found himself sorting out a few to attach to a message to his mother.

He was tired of hiding Emma away, like some kind of dirty secret. She deserved better than that. As much as he wanted to protect her, he also wanted the whole world to know just how much she meant to him.

Which was why, at a little after midnight, Killian found himself composing a quick post on Instagram, after he'd sent his message to his mother. He knew that it would probably result in a few awkward questions during his panels that weekend. But it didn't stop him. He selected a couple of images of the most creative dishes that they'd been lucky to sample that evening, before attaching one of himself and Emma to the post.

Emma had been laughing at his failed attempts to take some decent pictures of the two of them together. As a result, he'd managed to capture one of her head turned into his neck, her face almost completely hidden by his own, as he had leaned into her embrace.

It was the perfect picture to share with his followers.

One that showed just how happy he was, now that she was a part of his life. But one that also left her virtually unrecognizable to anyone who didn't know that seductive curve of her neck, as intimately as he did.

 **We had a wonderful evening at #Alinea, sampling some true masterpieces. But now, I need some sleep in preparation for #FTChi. Hope to see some of you there tomorrow.**

* * *

 **Emma's look here is based on Jen's look for the Oz Comic-Con Fan Dinner in 2014.**

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	30. Chapter 30

While Emma was meeting Belle for coffee the next morning, Killian was waiting for a call to say that his car had arrived.

Saying goodbye to his girlfriend, and knowing that he'd be seeing her again within the hour but wouldn't be able to hold her, was harder than he had imagined it would be. The selfish part of himself wanted to beg her to join him as his guest for the event, so that he could keep her by his side for the entire weekend, soaking up her presence. But he knew that Emma would have more fun with her friend as an attendee, than she would have behind the scenes with him. Her happiness was all that mattered to him that weekend. Because Killian knew that when their romance was eventually outed, Emma would no longer be able to attend the events as an attendee.

When the notification came through that his car was waiting, he quickly gathered up his stuff, and made his way down to the lobby. Killian was so distracted sending Emma a message to let her know that he was on his way, that he completely missed the other person already sat in the back of his car.

"Alright, Mate?"

"Robin? What are you doing here?" he asked, pocketing his phone to offer his friend a smile.

"I figured we could share a car. We're both coming from the same hotel after all. Is Emma not with you?"

Killian brought his hand up to scratch awkwardly behind his ear. He should have known that Robin wouldn't let the subject drop. He never should have mentioned that Emma would be joining him for the weekend.

"No. She's enjoying the hotel's facilities," he fibbed.

"Oh, right."

There was a moment of awkward silence in the vehicle before Robin finally asked, "So… she's not already at the hotel, waiting for the convention to start?"

Killian choked on the tightness of the air around him as he floundered for words. "Huh?" he finally settled on.

"Come on, Killian. Did you _really_ think I was that stupid?" Robin pushed.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied. He knew this was a conversation that they really need to have in private, when they had a few hours to hash things out. Not in the back of a car, with only minutes until they would arrive for a convention weekend.

"Okay. We're doing it this way, are we?" Robin sighed. "Let's see… first there was the pretty blonde you greeted by name in Vegas, during our photo ops. Which was odd enough, because I know these schedules like the back of my hand now. And your autograph session is always the very last thing planned for the weekend. So I know you didn't learn it there. But then there was your behavior during those photo ops. I mean, you barely even let me look at her, let alone touch her."

Killian wrung his hands between his knees as his best friend formed his argument. He had hoped that Robin would have been too distracted by everything else going on that weekend to notice his friend's odd behavior.

But it seemed like Killian hadn't been quite as careful as he'd thought he'd been.

"So, Emma is the same Emma from that weekend?" Robin asked.

"Yeah," he admitted reluctantly. "She is."

"And you met her at the Boston event?"

"Before it," Killian rushed to clarify. "We met in person before we met at the convention."

"But she knew who you were?"

Killian could already sense his friend's judgement creeping in, and that urge to protect Emma was flaring to life inside of him once more. "Yeah, she did," he stated, his tone hardening with every word he spoke. "And she never lied to me about who she was, or why she was in the city either. So I knew what I was getting myself into from the start, thank you very much. Even knowing all of that, I still chose to enter into this relationship with her. So you can save that judgmental bullshit for someone else, because I don't want it and I don't need it. I'm happy. I _love_ her. And I don't regret a single moment of the time I've spent with her."

Killian was grateful that their car had rolled to a stop at the back entrance of the hotel at that precise moment. He'd never been a particularly dramatic person before. But in that instant, he'd never wanted to storm off quite as much as he did then.

* * *

Emma could tell there was something wrong with her boyfriend the moment he stepped on stage that morning. While the rest of the room seemed oblivious, clapping and cheering for him as they usually did, she could see that slight tightness around his eyes, and the way his smile seemed a little more forced than it normally was.

Until the third question of the day.

Someone had managed to work up the courage necessary to stand to ask, "I was just wondering… you've posted a couple of pictures now of a woman on your Instagram account. Is she that someone special you talked about last time, in Vegas?"

"Good question," Belle whispered to her friend. "The post he made last night is all anyone's been talking about this morning."

"What post?"

Emma frowned as she tried to recall the notifications she had woken to. She'd had Killian's social media accounts set to alert her to any new content for as long as she'd been watching the show. But she couldn't remember seeing one from him when she'd checked her phone after silencing her alarm. Although, to be fair, he had been grinding himself softly into her lower back at the time, whispering all of the dirty things he'd wanted to do to her before she left. So Emma probably hadn't been as thorough as she usually was.

Belle pulled out her phone and tapped away at the screen, before handing it over to her friend, just as Killian began his carefully composed reply.

"She is, yeah," he chuckled nervously. "I um… I don't want to spend too much time talking about her today. I'd like to protect her identity for as long as I can, and things between us are still in that newish phase, so we'd love some privacy for now. But I don't like the idea of hiding her away like some kind of dirty secret either. I'm not ashamed of our relationship. And I sorta felt like getting up here today and denying that there was one would be a disservice to her. So yes, she's the one I spoke about in Vegas, and before anyone else asks… I am very happy right now."

As Killian spoke, Emma flicked through the thousands of comments on the picture he'd shared of the two of them together the night before. At first, she'd worried that she would be easily identified, and had wanted to make sure nobody had made the connection to her yet. But the more she scrolled, the less she worried. Most of the comments were either about the insane looking food they'd sampled the night before, or about how happy Killian looked in the picture. There was the odd comment that reeked of jealously, but not enough to leave Emma worrying for her safety all weekend.

She passed the phone back to Belle with a whispered thanks, as she turned her attention to Killian on stage. When his eyes landed on her in the crowd they lingered for the briefest of moments, his smile finally coming easier and looking more natural, before they continued over to the other side of the room, and the gentleman stood behind the microphone placed there.

"Whoever it is that's he's dating, she's one hell of a lucky girl," Belle whispered.

"Yeah. She is."

* * *

The moment Killian pushed through the door to the green room he turned on his heels to leave.

"Don't be like that," Robin sighed, getting up to follow after his friend. "Come on, Man. I'm sorry, okay? I'm just worried about you."

"I don't you need to be worried about me," he snapped back. "I'm an adult. I can take care of myself, thank you."

Robin sighed as he considered his next words. He hated that he'd managed to alienate his friend so quickly, but he wanted Killian to see the danger of the situation he'd put himself into. "Look… we've both heard the stories. We've both seen the reports online and in the papers. Can you blame me for being worried about how this is gonna end?"

"Yes, yes I can," Killian bit out. "You wanna know why? Because if the situation were reversed, do you know what I'd do? I'd _trust_ you. I'd trust that you had weighed up all of those consequences before starting that relationship, and that you'd made the right decision _for you_. If you hadn't… _If_ , by some miracle things went wrong, I'd be there to help you pick up the pieces without saying I told you so. Because that's what friends do. But you're so certain that this relationship is going to crash and burn that you can't even see that you _have_ nothing to worry about. I trust Emma. She could have told any number of people about our relationship by now. She could have posted it all over the internet. And she hasn't. You know why? Because she's not the person you think she is."

"She's a fan," Robin stated. "One of your fans. How do you know she's not playing you?"

"Can you even hear yourself right now?" Killian asked. "You know your wife is a fan too, right? Why is your relationship more acceptable than mine? Is it because Marian's got a ring on her finger?"

"Don't be ridiculous," he scoffed. "Marian's a fan of the show _because_ I'm a part of it. We met and married before I was even cast. She's not a fan of me _because_ she's a fan of the show. This is completely different."

"Oh, so I can't date women who were fans of the show _before_ they met me now? That's limiting my dating pool by a few million people in North America alone. Do you think I should put that requirement on my Tinder profile?"

At Robin's unamused look Killian sighed. He didn't want to argue with his friend. He wanted to share with Robin just how happy he was. He wanted to introduce Emma to him properly, so that his friend could see just how _right_ she was for him. And just how incredible Emma was as a person.

But there was no way Killian was going to stand there and let Robin judge her just because she'd been a fan of his when they'd met. Robin didn't know her, and the way he was acting only proved that.

"You know she makes me happy, right?" he asked softly. "She makes me laugh at things I never thought would be funny. She makes me question things I'd never even considered before. She makes me a better person just for knowing her. Because of Emma, I'm contemplating a future that I'd never even dreamed of, let alone wanted. She makes every day that little bit brighter, just for being a part of my life. She loves me, and trusts me so completely with her heart that I'm a little in awe of the power she's given me. She's this strong, confident, beautiful woman – and she wants to be with me, just as much as I want to be with her. She doesn't _want_ anything else from me. She doesn't ask for fancy gifts or lots of attention. I give her that because she deserves it, not because she asks for it. She'd rather just curl up with me on the sofa and enjoy being held by someone who loves her, than have me shower her with diamonds and fancy meals. You should be happy for me, Robin. Because I've _never_ been happier than I am right now with Emma."

Killian turned to leave before his friend could say anything else, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he did to make a quick call.

* * *

While Belle was off having her photo taken with Robin, Emma made her way up to the second floor of the hotel, and the room number that Killian had sent her in a brief text message only minutes before. A keycard had been left for her at reception, so she slipped it into the door and quietly pushed it open, wondering what the hell was going on.

"Hello?" she called out softly. "Killian?"

"In here."

Emma closed the door behind herself, making her way down the small corridor before she emerged into the bedroom. Killian was sat in a chair that he had pulled up to the window, looking out at the crowds of people that were milling around the grounds below them.

"Is everything okay?" she asked, as she made her way over to his side.

He finally looked her way to offer Emma the same smile he'd worn when he first stepped on stage that morning, as he wrapped his arm around her waist. "Yeah. I just wanted to see you for a moment."

Emma cocked a brow at him as she looked down into his eyes. She could see the hurt behind them, even as he was trying to bury it. "What happened? Your parents? Your brother?" she asked, her voice creeping higher in pitch as every possible worst-case scenario rushed through her mind.

"They're fine," he assured her, as he thought back to the messages he'd received from his mother a few hours ago. She was thrilled to know that Killian was dating again, and couldn't wait to hear all about the new lady in her son's life. "They're all fine. I just… I clashed with Robin a little and I um… Come here?" he asked, as he tugged gently on her waist.

Emma let him guide her down into his lap, as Killian buried his face in her shoulder. She gave him a moment to just soak up the warmth and comfort that he so clearly needed from her, as she ran a soothing hand through his hair. When his shoulders finally relaxed a little, she pulled back to encourage him to meet her eyes.

"What did you guys clash over?" she asked, even though she already had a strong inkling about the subject of their disagreement.

Killian looked torn about how to word the situation, which told Emma everything she needed to know.

"He doesn't approve." It wasn't a question.

"He's an idiot," Killian countered. "He doesn't know you and he doesn't know how happy you make me."

Emma was a little lost for words. She'd known that the way they'd met would always be controversial to some people. But she'd naively assumed that the people who mattered most to the two of them would at least wait to judge her until they'd had a chance to meet her. The thought of Killian's best friend disliking her, without giving her that chance, hurt more than she was willing to admit.

"Would it help if I met with him?" she offered softly.

"I don't care what he thinks," Killian protested, even though Emma knew he did. He wouldn't be so upset if he didn't. "All I care about is what you think."

She dropped her head down to rest against his as she whispered, "I love you," into the silence of the room.

"I love you more," Killian whispered back, as he leaned in further to press the softest of kisses to her lips.

* * *

"I'm not ready for this," Belle worried, as they joined the queue of people already waiting for Killian's photo ops.

"You've met him before," Emma chuckled, watching her friend fan herself down.

"I know. I wasn't ready for it then either." She took a few more deep and cleansing breaths to try and clear her mind. And that was when Belle's eyes landed on the item draped over her friend's arms. "What the hell is that?"

"Oh it's um… it's a jacket," Emma explained. "I was hoping Killian would agree to wear it for our photo ops today."

"You want him to wear _more_ clothing _?"_ Belle looked at her friend like she was a little insane for suggesting the idea of dressing the man further. "Why?"

"I think he'll look hot in it," Emma shrugged.

She'd been trying to think of something different to do in her photo ops with Killian this time round, and her gaze had eventually landed on the official sheriff's jackets hanging at the station. She and David never used them, preferring to wear their own clothes over the ugly looking brown things that were provided by the town. But she thought that Killian might get a kick out of seeing one again for their ops that day. So she'd taken David's one home to wash up for the weekend.

"I doubt he'll wear it," one of the women in front of them interjected. "It's not exactly flattering. And I've seen him refuse those kinds of things before."

"I'm pretty sure someone got him to wear handcuffs in a photo op before," Belle argued. "I'm sure Emma will be fine."

"How did you know about the handcuff thing?" Emma turned wide eyes to her friend, as she searched her mind for a memory of having shown her photo ops to Belle. She was pretty sure she'd kept those ones to herself. She could count the number of people who had seen them on her fingers.

"The girl who got them posted them to Tumblr," Belle explained. "But she put one of those stupid emoji sticker thingies over her face."

"No, she didn't," Emma protested. " _I_ had those photo ops taken. I haven't shown them to anyone other than Ruby and Killian. There's no way anybody else should have copies of those pictures."

" _You_ had those taken?" Belle was clearly focused on the wrong issue, but Emma couldn't really blame her friend. It wasn't like she was the overly brazen type.

"Yeah. He um… he asked what I did at the first con and when I told him I was a sheriff, he joked that next time I should bring the cuffs with me. So I did."

"Did you bring them this time?" her friend pressed.

Emma reached into the back pocket of her jeans to pull out the metal handcuffs she had stuffed inside of them that morning, while Killian was finishing in the shower.

" _You_ are my new hero," Belle sighed.

* * *

Emma didn't have time to search Tumblr for her stolen photo ops. Before she knew it, she could see her boyfriend on the other side of the screen once more, hugging women and men alike, as they passed through his queue. She was much less nervous this time round, which helped her to appreciate the moment a little better. Killian seemed happier after their rendezvous upstairs. She watched as he bopped a little to the music being pumped through the room, and joked with the photographer and his handler in between shots.

But perhaps the best moment came from the interfering woman who had been a few places ahead of them in the queue. Emma couldn't hear her request for a pose, but it looked like she'd asked Killian for a kiss. He had pulled back from her a little and shook his head forcefully, stating loudly, "My girlfriend wouldn't approve of that, I'm afraid." Seeing the other woman put in her place was oddly satisfying.

Belle took her turn just before Emma, approaching Killian with a shy smile and asking him for a hug once more. She didn't even turn back to look at her friend as she left the room, stumbling a little along the way. But Emma couldn't blame her for that.

Killian had a way of leaving her dazed and confused whenever he was close.

"Emma," he greeted, cocking a brow in her direction as she approached with the jacket still hanging over her forearms.

"I thought you might get a kick out of this," she smirked, as she shook the coat out to reveal the Storybrooke logo on its breast.

"Please tell me you brought the cuffs too," he smirked, taking the garment from her hands to slip his arms into the sleeves. It wasn't a perfect fit, but it was good enough for what Emma had in mind.

She chuckled as he pulled her back into his chest, looping his arms around her waist for their usual hug picture. Emma waited until she saw the flash of light to signal the shot had been taken, before she pulled the handcuffs from her back pocket.

"Are these the same ones?" he whispered suggestively, as he fiddled with the mechanisms on them to open up each of the bracelets.

"Yep." Emma turned her back to her boyfriend as she held her hands out behind her. It had been a while since someone had put cuffs on her, but she found she didn't mind having Killian be the one to take charge this time. There was something gentle about the way he locked them in place, even as his face morphed into that mask that could only ever be described as pure sex.

She wasn't exactly sure what he had in mind, but he leaned forward to whisper, "Look shocked," just seconds before the next flash of light temporarily blinded her.

Killian's hands fell to her wrists as soon as the picture had been taken, quickly releasing the lock to free her right hand. But Emma was surprised when he tugged gently on her remaining arm to get her to turn around. When the cuff came down again, this time it was on his own wrist as Killian bound himself to his girlfriend.

Emma didn't have a clue what her face looked like for the last picture, but she knew that it wouldn't matter. From the corner of her eye she'd been able to see Killian's, and he looked like a deadly master of seduction as he stared down the lens of the camera.

 _Dear lord, how were the rest of the women in the room still breathing?_

Emma released her own hand quickly as she watched Killian shrug out of the jacket to hand it back to her. They didn't have the luxury of time, given the size of the queue of people behind her. But it didn't matter much to either of them. They knew the day was rapidly drawing to a close, and they would see each other again soon enough.

It was only when Emma joined Belle outside the room once more that she realized Killian must have pocketed her cuffs after he'd removed them. Because she had completely forgotten to pick them up.

* * *

While Emma and Belle headed out for a late lunch, Robin was searching the hotel for his best friend. The others had barely seen Killian all day, so he knew that the guy was probably hiding out somewhere to avoid bumping in to him. The only problem was that navigating a hotel full of convention attendees was easier said than done. In the end, it was a member of the security team that finally taken pity on him. The bulky bloke had reluctantly given him the room number that Killian had booked under his girlfriend's name, earlier that day.

Robin soon found himself on the second floor of the hotel, knocking softly on the door. He prayed he'd gotten the right room, as he heard someone shuffling around inside of it.

"Emma?" Killian asked, pulling the door open. His face fell as soon as he saw the person stood on the other side. "What do you want, Robin? Haven't you done enough to ruin my day as it is?"

"I didn't… I don't want to ruin your day," he assured him. "I'm here to apologize, okay? I just… you're my best mate. I don't want to see you get hurt." When Killian opened his mouth to argue again, Robin rushed to add, "But if you're sure about this girl, then I trust your judgement. You were right. I've known you long enough now to know that you wouldn't have gone into this blindsided by a pretty face. So… I'm sorry. And I really am happy that you're happy, Mate."

Killian stood for a moment in silence as he considered the words his friend had just spoken. He could tell that Robin meant each and every one of them. Which was why after a long second, he pulled the door to the room open a little wider to let him slip inside.

"Wow, this is cramped," Robin chuckled, as he looked around at the small room his friend was hiding inside of. While it held a double bed, the bathroom didn't even have a door on it, and that was making him cringe a little.

"I just needed some space. I didn't much care what it looked like," Killian pointed out, as he dropped back down into the seat he'd been sat in by the window. There was an empty plate on the small table beside him, so Robin assumed that his friend had at least eaten that day.

"As long as it's got a bed, huh?" he teased. Killian turned confused eyes his way and Robin shrugged his shoulders slightly, suddenly doubting himself and what he'd been implying. "I just um… you thought I was Emma so I…"

"Our relationship isn't like that," Killian snapped, just as his friend had expected.

"Sorry. Bad joke," Robin apologized. "So… where is Emma now?"

"Having lunch with her friend. She doesn't want Belle to feel neglected, given that she's here to spend time with Emma. So the two of them have been spending most of their days together."

"Huh." Robin hadn't expected that. He'd thought that Emma would want to spend as much time as possible with her famous boyfriend. He had assumed that was why Killian had rented them a cheap room.

The silence was broken when Killian's phone vibrated on the small table in front of him, and Robin watched as his friend snatched it up to check the notification. He knew that it must have been some kind of message from Emma, because the smile that lit up his friend's face was like nothing he'd ever seen before.

Killian fiddled with his phone for a moment, before finally bringing the device up to his ear, as he pulled the curtain away from the window to peer down into the courtyard below them. Robin couldn't hear what was being said on the other end of the line, but he had a good idea of who his friend was calling.

"Your arse looks fantastic in those jeans," Killian whispered into the phone. He laughed a little at whatever Emma said on the other end of the line, pulling the curtain back a little further to stare out of the window.

Robin made his way quietly over to the other side of the room, to see what his friend was looking at. It didn't take him long to find the pretty blonde that was sat on one of the benches outside. She was wearing a pair of dark, skinny jeans and black boots, paired with what appeared to be a sheer floral shirt. Her hair was twisted back on each side of her head, but blew softly around her shoulders in long, loose waves. And as she spoke into her phone, her gaze would flick up to the window they were looking out of.

"Well that was just too tempting to resist," Killian chuckled. "Are you girls planning to head to the concert tonight? Because if you're not, we could always put them to some use when you get back to the hotel." Killian laughed a little louder at Emma's answer, and Robin wished he knew what they were talking about.

"I thought we covered this before," his friend drawled. Robin could practically hear the sex dripping from Killian's voice, as he thickened his accent for full and devastating effect. "I'm happy to switch depending upon the mood."

Killian laughed again at her reply, but sobered quickly as the two of them watched a dark-haired woman approach the bench Emma was sat on, and hand over a coffee to her friend. "I'll let you go, Sweetheart. If you wanna stay for the concert tonight - do it. You know I won't mind."

Emma said something else before her boyfriend replied with, "Okay. Well keep me up to date. And enjoy the rest of your afternoon. I'll see you soon. I love you."

Killian must have waited just long enough for Emma to return his sentiment, as her eyes briefly flicked up to the window once final time, before the two of them ended the call and slipped their phones back into their pockets. He remained at the window though, looking down at the two women who chatted for a while between themselves on the bench, before they finally stood up to make their way back into the hotel.

"If um… If Emma's busy tonight, I could always keep you company?" Robin suggested softly.

Killian finally pulled his eyes away from the view behind the curtains to offer his friend his full attention. In that brief moment before they made eye-contact, Robin could see just how difficult the day had been for his friend. How hard it had been to maintain such a distance from the woman he loved, while they were so close together.

And Robin mentally slapped himself for making the entire day that much harder than it needed to be.

"Yeah. That would be nice."

* * *

Before they took their seats for the final few panels of the day, Belle and Emma went to collect their photo ops. It was only when Emma had all three of hers in hand that she finally remembered what had been said about the last set of images she'd had taken with Killian.

"Hey, Belle?" she asked, as her friend grabbed her own picture, and then began moving out of the way. "Do you think you can send me a link to that Tumblr page that had my photo op on it?"

"It was a while ago now," Belle cringed. "But I'll do my best to find it for you. Was it really yours?"

"Yeah," Emma sighed. "And I hate the thought of someone else sharing it without my permission."

"I'll try and track it down for you," Belle promised. "Can I see your ops from today?"

Emma hesitated for a moment before finally handing them over. Belle had known about the jacket and cuffs anyway, so it wasn't like she was revealing some big secret to her friend.

"Ugh. He always gives you the _best_ hugs," she sighed. "Does he recognize you now?"

Emma chuckled for a moment as she considered how to answer the question. In the end, she thought that it might be easier to say yes than to try and laugh off how much closer the two of them always were in their pictures. "Yeah. I think he's probably sick of me by now."

"I wouldn't say that," Belle protested. "I mean, have you seen this?" She held up the second picture Emma had taken with Killian that afternoon as part of her evidence. "The man looks like he wants to eat you alive."

"Yeah. He's great with making the appropriate faces in all of the right places," Emma dismissed easily.

"I really need to work up the courage to ask for something different in Vancouver," her friend sighed. "I just get so tongue-tied around him."

"I think that's natural. I wouldn't have come up with all of this on my own," Emma explained gently. "He takes the lead in most of our photo ops. I just go with it and hope for the best. Next time, maybe you could ask him to surprise you?"

Emma knew that she'd have to point out Belle to Killian before Vancouver, so that he could do something fun for their photo ops during that event. She had no doubts that it would make the entire weekend that much more special for her friend, and Killian would be more than happy to play a part in that.

"Maybe I should steal your handcuffs," Belle teased.

"He already beat you to that one," Emma chuckled.

"Seriously?" she scoffed. "You have all the luck."

* * *

 **Emma's look here is based on Jen's look from a candid image taken and shared by Rose McIver in October 2015.**

 **Thanks for reading and sharing.**


	31. Chapter 31

**It's still Sunday somewhere, right?**

* * *

By the time Emma had made it back to the hotel that evening she was desperate for some time alone with her boyfriend, and a little tipsy from the pitcher of cocktails she'd split with Belle over dinner.

"Killian?" she called out, as she pushed open the door to their suite. He'd been messaging her all day, telling her to enjoy her weekend and not to worry about him. But Emma still felt guilty for spending so much time with Belle, when her time with him was also so limited.

They both needed to catch early flights back home on Monday afternoon. Which meant that once the convention was over, they would only have a handful of hours together before they were separated for weeks again.

"I'm in here, Sweetheart," he called back.

He was already standing by the time Emma turned into the main room, ready to pull his girlfriend into his arms.

"I missed you," she mumbled into his chest. "I'm sorry I didn't come straight back."

"Don't be," Killian chuckled, as he combed his fingers soothingly through her hair. "Did you have fun with Belle?"

"Yeah. She was feeling better tonight and I didn't want her to spend it alone. I got to introduce her to some of the girls I met during registration too, so that was fun. What about you?" she asked, pulling back to get a better look at him. "Have you been bored all night?"

"I've been fine. I had company." Killian twisted them both slightly and Emma's eyes widened in shock as they fell on the other figure sat in the middle of their sofa. He was looking a little uncomfortable at the clearly intimate display taking place in front of him, but he still managed to offer her a somewhat-genuine smile.

"Robin, this is my Emma," Killian introduced, keeping his eyes trained on her face. "Sweetheart, I'd like you to meet my best friend, Robin."

"You guys made up?" she asked softly, looking between the two men in the room.

"Yeah, we did," he reassured her, as he took her hand into his own to pull her over to where his best friend was seated. Robin scooted down the sofa a little to give them some room, while he watched Killian tug Emma down to sit in between the two of them.

"It's nice to officially meet you, Emma," he offered, extending his hand for her to shake.

"You too," she told him, gripping it firmly in her own.

While a part of Emma was excited to finally be meeting Killian's best friend as his girlfriend, and not just a fan of the show, another part of her was screaming that she needed to be cautious. Robin had managed to upset Killian so badly that he'd let it show during his panel that morning, and Emma knew that she was the source of their disagreement. While she wanted to believe that Robin had truly apologised for what had happened, and the two men had managed to put the misunderstanding behind themselves, she also knew that it was better to air on the side of caution when it came to situations that could leave her vulnerable.

Emma had certainly learned that lesson the hard way throughout her life.

"So, Killian says you've been at the concert," Robin began, attempting to make some kind of conversation to break the uncomfortable silence that had descended over the three of them.

"Yeah. My friend Belle wanted to go and I didn't want to leave her on her own." Emma turned her attention to the man sat beside her, as she smiled softly up at him. "You should make more surprise appearances there. The fans would love it."

"You know I _only_ made that last one to see you again, right? I don't sing around other people."

"Pfts, that's a lie," she giggled. "You sang for Ruby while you were in my kitchen the other week."

"I didn't know Ruby was there," he corrected.

Killian had gotten the shock of his life when he'd turned around with two glasses of wine in his hands. Ruby had been leaning against the counter watching him sing, as he worked his way around the small kitchen.

"Yeah. You made her swoon a little. I was worried that she was gonna pass out and hit her head." Emma sighed, as she remembered that afternoon. It had seemed like a lifetime ago since Killian had been in Storybrooke with her. And she knew that once she left Chicago, it would seem like a lifetime to wait until she got to see him again.

Another slightly awkward silence settled around the room once more. Emma and Killian both lost themselves in thoughts of how long they would have to wait until they were able to see each other again, while Robin tried desperately not to feel like the third wheel in the group. He could sense that slight hint of hostility behind Emma's posture, but if his friend had explained to her what had happened during the day, Robin couldn't exactly blame her for it.

"So, um, Emma," he tried again. "Killian tells me you work for the sheriff's department?"

"Yeah, that's right," she confirmed.

"Emma's the sheriff for her town," Killian added proudly, pressing a kiss to her cheek. While his girlfriend might not have thought her job worthy of boasting about, he certainly didn't share that sentiment.

"That must be a pretty interesting job."

"It's probably not as interesting as you'd think," she chuckled. "Storybrooke's a small town. Nothing overly exciting tends to happen there. Most of my time is spent on teenagers trying to win bets, and Leroy."

"How is Leroy?" Killian asked, as he made himself more comfortable on the small sofa, pulling Emma further into his embrace as he did so.

"He was sleeping off a bender in my holding cell when I left."

"Which one?" Killian arched a brow at her that communicated absolutely everything he wasn't saying. While Emma seemed to understand his hidden meaning perfectly, Robin frowned in confusion over the part of the story he seemed to be missing.

"Not that one," Emma giggled, as she watched her boyfriend's face relax a little. "The only way that one's _ever_ getting any use again is if we have a crime spree in town that requires holding more than one prisoner at a time. So… I think we're safe for a few decades."

"Do I wanna know what all of that's about?" Robin asked, his curiosity finally getting the better of him.

Emma and Killian exchanged a small look. One that clearly said so much to each of them as Robin watched his friend's face light up with mischief, while his girlfriend relaxed back into his embrace a little further.

"It's like I told you before," Killian began smugly. "I happen to find Emma's job _insanely_ sexy."

Robin really wished he hadn't taken a sip from his glass at that moment. It might have taken him a few seconds to work out the hidden meaning behind his friend's words, but once he had, he started choking wildly.

* * *

When finally he made the walk back to his hotel room a few hours later, he still smelled of the expensive Scotch that he'd spat all over himself earlier in the night.

But Emma had at least seemed to warm to him a little more with the longer they spent talking to each other.

* * *

"Have you booked any duos for today?" Killian whispered into his girlfriend's ear, as he watched her apply her foundation the following morning.

"Nope," she chuckled. "But I do have your meet and greet in a few hours."

Killian pouted a little at the thought of not seeing as much of his girlfriend as he would have liked for the day. "Are you sure I can't talk you into having one?"

Emma turned in her seat to face him properly, and then wished she hadn't when she saw the full effect of those puppy-dog eyes turned her way. "It won't be that long until you see me again. And you'll have me all to yourself tonight when the convention is over, as Belle's catching an early flight back."

"Just for the record, I don't care if I spend the whole day fused to your hip," Killian pointed out. "It would still never be enough time with you."

Emma leaned forward to close her lips over his in a searing kiss that said everything she couldn't seem to find the right words for. He so often left her speechless with the simplest of statements or gestures.

Her relationship with Killian was everything that her relationship with Neal had been lacking.

"What did I do to deserve you?" she wondered.

"I ask myself that every day," Killian chuckled, as he pulled her into his arms.

Emma allowed herself to be held for a moment, just soaking up that warmth and comfort that always came from being in Killian's embrace. Eventually she was forced to pull away, as she turned back to the mirror once more to finish getting ready for the day ahead. She'd promised to meet Belle before the first panel of the morning, and she didn't want to leave her friend waiting around for her for too long.

"Are you sure I can't talk you into letting me give you a couple of duos?" Killian asked eventually, from his place on the bed where he'd been watching her work. Even the simple things like the way she brushed out her hair, and the way she screwed her nose up to concentrate as she applied her eyeliner, were completely fascinating to him.

"No," she giggled. "People will start to get suspicious if you do. And I'm not sure Robin's fully on board with all of this just yet. I don't want to push him too far too soon. He's your best friend. I want him to like me."

"He'll come around," Killian promised.

He had hated the awkward dynamic in the room the night before. He knew why it was there. Both Robin and Emma were unsure where they stood with each other, and were being overly cautious to avoid saying anything that might cause offence. But things had gotten easier as the night had progressed. Which gave him hope that one day, possibly very soon, his best friend and his girlfriend would become friends on their own terms.

"I hope so," was all Emma said, as she turned her attention back to her hair.

* * *

Belle was already waiting for her friend, with a coffee in each hand, by the time the taxi pulled up to the hotel. Emma had let Killian keep her a little later than she had intended, thanks to his persuasive kisses, but she was happy to note that she was only a couple of minutes late.

"How was your night?" she asked, accepting the coffee her friend had purchased for her with a warm smile of thanks.

"Ugh. I should not have had those cocktails before we ate," the brunette complained, as they made their way into the hotel to take a seat in the lobby. "Please tell me you were suffering just as much as I was last night."

"I didn't drink as many as you did," Emma chuckled. "And by the way, I have no sympathy for you."

Belle groaned unintelligibly as she sank down a little further into her seat to make herself comfortable. She took a few sips from her own coffee cup, before finally declaring, "I blame Killian Jones for being so fucking pretty."

"I cannot argue with that," Emma giggled, as she raised her own cup in solidarity. She knew all too well how overwhelming the man could be when he was around.

And she'd had more practice in that area than her friend had.

"I have his meet and greet later this morning," she said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence that had settled between the two of them. "Can you imagine how bad that's gonna be."

"Yeah. I couldn't do that," Belle snorted. "That's why I haven't placed a bid on one yet. There's no way I'd survive thirty minutes in a room with that man. I can barely stand the three seconds it takes to have a picture taken with him."

Emma snorted a little into her cup, but she could understand the logic. Being stuck in that elevator with Killian the very first time they had met had been difficult enough. There was absolutely no way she'd have been brave enough to have bought a meet and greet ticket for him before she got to know him as well as she now did.

"Well, if you can think of anything you wanna know, I can always ask him for you?" Emma offered softly. There wasn't much she could think to ask Killian herself that she hadn't already voiced to him in private. But she didn't want to sit in silence throughout the entire meet.

That would just look suspicious.

"Would you really?" her friend asked, as her eyes lit up with excitement. "I mean, there's nothing I can think of right now, but I'm sure I can come up with something before you see him."

"Of course," Emma giggled, pleased that her small gesture was making Belle so happy. "But nothing rude or crude," she warned.

Belle and Ruby were the complete opposites personality-wise, but Emma wasn't risking the chance that the two women had managed to rub off on each other a little.

* * *

The two women enjoyed the opening panels of the final day, featuring some of the newer guests that had been booked for the weekend. While some of the questions that were being asked had come up many times before, their answers gave a fresh take on something that was normally boring and predictable. It was probably fair to say that when a small break was announced just after the actors had left the stage, some of the fans in the room left the hall in a hurry. Their desire to meet their new favourite cast members before the weekend was over had them hurrying towards the ticket office in small groups.

With nothing else to do, Emma and Belle headed for the bar, wanting to grab a quick drink together before Killian's meet and greet was due to begin.

"So, have you come up with a question for me to ask him yet?" Emma wondered, as the two women claimed a small table in the back corner of the room for themselves. The bar wasn't busy when they sat down, but they both knew that it would soon fill up when the ticket office queues died down.

"I suppose a proposal is out of the question?" Belle teased.

Emma choked a little on the diet Cola she was attempting to swallow. Even with how fast things between the two of them were moving, she was certain Killian would find that a step too far for them right now.

"Just a bit," she eventually choked out.

"Okay."

Belle's face fell a little as she tried to think of something interesting for Emma to ask him. Even though she wouldn't be getting the experience of listening to his answer herself, she knew that this would probably be her only chance to get a reply directly from the man she adored.

So she wanted to make her question count.

"Oh, I've got it," she declared suddenly, startling Emma's attention away from her phone, where she had been replying to Killian's latest message. "Can you ask him what he feels his biggest achievement has been so far in his life, and what he feels his biggest regret is, professionally speaking?"

"Of course."

Emma knew that even if she couldn't find her voice in that room with other fans around, she'd at least be able to ask Killian Belle's question in private, so that her friend would get some kind of answer to her queries. And she knew that no matter where it was asked, Killian would give the kind of reply that showed just how much he respected his fans.

"Are you nervous?" Belle asked after a moment of comfortable silence.

"A little."

It wasn't really a lie. Since they'd started dating, Emma had only spent time around Killian with large groups of other fans in the room, or completely alone with him. Their photo ops and autograph encounters were always brief, with people close by to overhear what was being said. The meet and greet would be a far more intimate encounter, but it would also shine the biggest light on their relationship if one of them tripped up in some way. As much as Emma wasn't ashamed of being Killian's girlfriend, she knew that having it outed in the middle of a convention weekend would probably be the worst possible way for their news to leak.

Because when that time finally came, she wanted the opportunity to sit down in person and explain to her friends why she had lied to them. She didn't want them to find out a twisted version of the truth through brutal tweets or gossip being spread online.

They deserved better than that.

"This was probably not a good idea," she eventually chuckled, as she downed what was left of her drink, wishing she'd thought to add a shot of something stiffer to it.

"You'll be fine." Belle reached out to run a soothing hand down her friend's arm. "Even if you don't manage to ask him anything, it will be one hell of an experience you'll never forget. And then you can come back here and tell me how pretty he looks today."

Emma already knew just how pretty Killian looked that day. She'd been there that morning as he pulled on a tight white t-shirt, and then a dark blue button-down to cover it.

Blue was definitely the man's colour.

But she would never turn down the opportunity to gush over him with someone else who felt that pull towards Killian Jones. Even though the nature of their relationship had changed, Emma still felt that draw towards him the way she always had, from the moment he'd stepped into his first scene on her screen. And she knew that all of her fandom friends felt the same way about him.

"Deal," she agreed.

* * *

By the time Emma was shown into the small room where the meet and greet was being held, and had taken her seat, her heart was racing. She didn't recognise any of the other women (or the only two men) in the room with her. But she knew that wouldn't stop them from spreading gossip, should she trip up with her interactions that morning.

Thankfully, the way her leg bounced against the floor, as she waited for the man himself to be shown into the room, was easily dismissed by the people sat either side of her. After all, she wasn't the only one who appeared to be a little nervous at the thought of what was coming for them.

"Are you okay?" she whispered to the girl sat to her left, that looked a rather alarming shade of red. Emma was a little worried she was going to pass out soon.

"Yeah," the young girl assured her, nodding her head a little too aggressively to sell her point. "Just nervous, you know? I decided to go for this instead of his photo ops, and now I'm not sure it was such a good idea. I mean… that chair is like… _really_ close. He's gonna be so close to me."

Emma chuckled a little in agreement, as she reached over to squeeze the other woman's hand gently. "It'll be okay," she promised her. "Killian's really sweet. You won't regret buying this. Although, you might regret not buying his photo op after it."

"Tell me about it," she snorted. "I'm uh… I'm Kat. Kathrine, but everyone calls me Kat."

"It's nice to meet you, Kat. I'm Emma."

Kat opened her mouth intending to ask something else, but Emma watched as her jaw fell slack, falling open even wider, while her eyes bulged a little in her head. Kat's reaction and the sudden silence that had fallen over the room could only mean one thing.

Killian had arrived.

"Good morning," he greeted softly, as he made his way around the chairs that had been arranged for the event, to the one free seat that was reserved for himself. He had a full coffee in one hand, and a warm smile on his face, as he scanned the small crowd that had paid so much to spend so little time with him.

While a part of Killian hated that he now knew just how much some of his fans had spent on the event, another part of him couldn't help but be awed that so many people were so happy to consider him worthy of that hefty price tag. He wasn't sure he'd ever get used to the overwhelming feeling of love that was shown to him during convention weekends.

"Are we all having a good day?" he asked, as he took his own seat and sat his coffee down by the leg of his chair. There was a small murmur that sounded like people were agreeing with him, and Killian chuckled as he relaxed a little into the seat. He would also never fully get used to the effect he tended to have on his fans. But he was at least starting to expect it now.

"Okay, who wants to start us off? Or shall I just tell you all my life story?"

There was a snort of laughter that rang around the group, but nobody seemed brave enough to want to ask their question first.

Killian caught Emma's eye with his own from across the room. It was only a brief look, with both of them aware that anything more would attract too much attention. But it was enough for Emma to see the pleading in his eyes. While her boyfriend could (and would) act confident in certain situations, she knew that he wouldn't feel comfortable rattling off his entire life story to a group of stupefied fans for the next twenty-seven minutes.

So like the wonderful girlfriend she was, Emma slowly raised her arm and said, "I have a question."

Killian snapped his attention back over to her, nodding his head encouragingly as he bent to pick up his coffee and said, "Go ahead."

"Okay. My friend couldn't be here today so she wanted to know, what do you consider to be your biggest achievement in life so far, and what would you consider to be your biggest regret, professionally speaking?"

"Damn. Maybe we should go back to the idea of me telling you guys my life story," he chuckled awkwardly, as he reached up to scratch behind his ear. "Um… Well I guess the easiest one to start with is my biggest achievements in life."

He took a moment to sip from his drink, composing his thoughts as he figured out how to word his reply. It was something Emma had always loved about him, before she'd gotten to know him. Killian constantly put thought into everything that he did, even if it was just answering fan questions.

"Well, one of my biggest achievements has definitely been landing this role as Hook. I'm not naïve. I know that it's my big break into the industry. Before Fairytales I was a relatively unknown actor, who was struggling to pay my rent on time, and worrying about where my next meal would come from. Now… while I'm not exactly the best-known actor on the planet, I do own my own home. I don't have to worry about how to feed myself for the rest of the month, and I have a pretty stable job that I love. Hook's a big part of my life, and I enjoy getting to portray him on a daily basis."

Killian paused for a second to think a little more, before finally deciding to add to his answer. "But I also feel like the movie I did a few years back, with Michael Cain, was a big achievement for me professionally. For someone at my level in the industry at the time, getting the chance to work with a living legend like Michael was just such a huge blessing. He taught me a lot about not only how the acting world works, but also about my own abilities as an actor. So that will always be up there as one of my biggest achievements in life."

Killian took a moment to sip some more of his coffee as the people in the room absorbed the wonderful answer he'd just given to them. He seemed to startle them all when he added, "But honestly…. my biggest achievement in life is always gonna be introducing Robin to his wife. Because I do throw that in his face every chance I get, and I will continue to do so for all of eternity."

The room erupted into various forms of snorts and giggles as they imagined what that kind of interaction between the two friends would look like. Emma might have been the only one who caught his sly smirk before he raised his cup once more to finish his drink. She knew that had been Killian's way of lightening the mood a little.

And it had definitely worked.

"My biggest regret is a little harder to pinpoint. I've had a few moments that I look back on with disappointment, but I'm a firm believer that everything in life happens for a reason. So while I could point out a few auditions I regret passing up, or not giving my all for, I'm not sure I'd class them as my biggest regrets. Because if I'd gotten those roles, then I probably wouldn't have landed the one of Hook. And without Hook, I wouldn't be here with all of you guys today. There's no way I could ever regret that."

There was a slight swoon that went around the room at Killian's words, and Emma felt her heart swell a little more. It would have been so easy for a man like him to point out all the thing he wished he could have done to get further in the industry. But Killian wasn't that kind of person. And it was one of the reasons she loved him so completely.

"I hope your friend's happy with that answer," he finally told her, offering Emma a small glimpse of that smile he reserved just for her, before he turned his attention to one of the only guys in the room.

The rest of the meet and greet seemed to fly past as the people in the room became braver and bolder with their questions, the more they realized that they wouldn't be judged or ridiculed for asking them. Killian did his best to make sure that everyone who had paid for the experience got their own chance to speak with him, keeping his attention firmly focused on them as he did. When his handler finally made an appearance to inform him that their session was drawing to a close, he looked genuinely disappointed that their time together was at an end.

"Okay guys," he declared, after he'd finished answering the last question. "I'm being told I need to be elsewhere soon, so we have to finish up here. But I'm gonna make sure I come around the group and take some pictures with you all before I go. Thanks for joining me this morning. Don't tell Robin this… but you're far more interesting than he is."

There was another short burst of laughter as Killian rose to his feet, before he pulled out his own phone. He fiddled with the device for a moment, presumably unlocking it and opening up the camera, before he handed it over to his handler.

"Group hug?"

Nobody needed to be asked twice, as they all rushed to surround the man who meant so much to each and every one of them.

* * *

"So, how did it go?" Belle asked, practically bouncing in her seat as she saw her friend weaving through the tables in the bar, back towards their own. Emma had messaged Belle on her way out of the meet and greet, to let her friend know that she was headed her way. And being the thoughtful friend that she was, Belle had made sure to have a drink waiting for her.

"It was really good." Now that she was out of the room, Emma was so happy that she had decided to take the plunge and treat herself to the experience. She'd had fun getting to hear Killian's replies to slightly longer and more personal questions about his work. And she'd enjoyed seeing how he interacted with other fans in that setting. It was obvious he felt more comfortable when he wasn't sat on stage in front of thousands of people. "Killian was a delight, as usual. And I think we all love him a little more now than we did before."

"Well of course you do," Belle scoffed. "I love him more every time I come to one of these events. I'm gonna have to take the plunge in Vancouver and book his meet and greet now. I kinda feel like I'm missing out."

Emma slid her chair a little closer to her friend, as she wrapped her arm around her shoulders. "I'm sorry Belle. I didn't mean to rub that in."

"Oh you didn't," her friend chuckled. "I'm happy you got that experience with him. I'm just annoyed that I talked myself out of sharing it with you."

Her phone buzzed with an incoming notification as she finished speaking, and Belle reached out to check it. Emma had felt her own vibrate in her pocket, so they both had a rough idea of what would be waiting for them.

"Ugh, I definitely should have booked it," Belle sighed, as she loaded the message Killian had just shared to Twitter. The one thanking his meet and greet group for being a 'fabulous bunch of people,' with the group shot attached to it. "But at least I can say I have a friend who's been in a picture posted on his social media accounts."

Emma laughed a little awkwardly as she flicked through to the other two images of herself that had been shared by her boyfriend. The more time she spent around Belle, the worse she felt about lying to her friends. The truth had been on the tip of her tongue all day, but she didn't want to blurt it out until she'd had the chance to speak with Killian about the matter. So she bit down on it as she fired off a quick message to the man in question, to let him know just how much she had loved the session.

"Is that from today?" Belle asked, as she watched her friend lock her phone and sit it back down on the table in front of her.

"The picture?" Emma wondered, lighting up the screen once more to reveal one of the images Killian had taken of the two of them together only minutes earlier. She'd been the last person he'd gotten to in the room, which meant she'd gotten slightly more time with him.

Something she was sure Killian had carefully planned.

He'd taken a couple of sweet and serious shots of the two of them together, before taking another of himself licking the shell of her ear. His actions had sent Emma into a flood of giggles in the corner of the room, which had drawn more attention than either of them would have liked. But Emma was sure that her laughter had been written off as that of just another hysterical fangirl.

"Yeah. He took some with everyone in the room. I love our photo ops together, but I thought this was kinda cute," she explained.

Belle reached for the phone to illuminate the screen once more, giving herself a better look at the image Emma had chosen for her new lock screen.

Emma had known that while she was enjoying a convention weekend, the meet and greet selfies were a much safer option than the one she'd been using before. That picture had been taken of the two of them together in Storybrooke, before their dinner date at Marco's. It would have been hard to explain, if anyone had accidentally caught a glimpse of it.

"Ugh! I definitely shouldn't have talked myself out of that," Belle lamented, as she allowed the screen to darken once more. "The two of you look like some kind of epically beautiful couple in that one."

For the second time that morning, Emma found herself choking a little on the drink she was attempting to swallow at her friend's words.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	32. Chapter 32

"Are you okay?" Belle asked, as she watched her friend fidget nervously in line.

"Yeah. Just a little cramp," Emma lied.

After finishing off their drinks, the two girls had been called for their penultimate autograph session of the weekend. Emma had been fine about the upcoming activity until she realised that Robin would be a part of that session, and she had no idea how he was going to treat her after their introductions the night before.

While the two of them had parted ways on better terms, she wasn't naïve enough to believe that all of their issues had been solved with one night of awkward conversation, and a handful of drinks. Robin had hurt Killian, and it was going to take her longer than a few hours in his presence to forgive him for that.

But more than anything, Emma knew that he didn't fully trust her with his best friend's heart. She could only hope that Robin wasn't the kind of petty person who would feel the need to set her up, in the hopes of keeping her away from his friend.

Colleting their first few autographs was simple enough. Emma added two new names to her poster, and another headshot to her collection for her fandom friends. She'd been a little unsure about what to have Robin sign, given that he'd been at all of the previous conventions she had attended. But in the end, she settled on a headshot that she would ask him to dedicate to Mary-Margret.

Now that her friend was aware of where Emma spent her time, she thought that the new mom would get a slight kick out of the gift. Robin had been her attraction to Fairytales to begin with, after Mary-Margret had fallen in love with his role in a movie she'd seen a few years earlier. Emma was hoping that she could convince Killian to sign another for her friend later that evening, so she could gift them both to the woman who was like a sister to her.

But when she finally found herself stood in front of Robin once more, she was a little stuck for words.

"Mary-Margret?" he asked cautiously, as he read the small Post-It note she'd stuck to the front of the picture. "I thought your name was Emma?"

"It is," she finally threw back at him. The spark of anger he had ignited inside of her with his suspicious tone was making it far easier for her to find her voice. "I thought it would make a nice gift for my friend. She's a big fan of yours."

Robin seemed a little taken back by Emma's words as he finally flicked his eyes up to meet her gaze, and held it. "I'm sorry. That was a little rude of me," he offered.

"Yeah, it was," she agreed. "But I won't hold it against you."

Robin's personal assistant looked completely baffled by the nature of the exchange taking place in front of her eyes. But she didn't speak up to voice her own opinions.

Emma was just grateful that there was a bit of a gap between where she was stood, and where Belle was patiently waiting for her turn. Hopefully that would mean her friend hadn't caught the bizarre conversation too.

Because Emma really wasn't sure how many more lies she could tell Belle before the day was over.

"Are you having a good weekend?" Robin asked, as he bent his head to sign the picture. It was his own small way of making amends for how their encounter had begun, and they both knew it.

"I am, thanks. I've had the pleasure of spending my time with some wonderful people." Emma knew that the PA listening in probably thought she was talking about the guests that had been booked for the event. But with the way the tips of Robin's ears turned pink at her words, she knew that he had gotten the hidden message behind them.

"That's good to hear," he replied, as he straightened back up and quickly picked up the picture to wave it around a little. It was his way of stalling for time, and Emma knew that too. "I'm sure the people you've spent the weekend with have enjoyed your company, Emma. I hope you get the chance to see everyone again soon."

Robin handed the image back to her with a small, tentative smile, that Emma couldn't help but return. It felt like the two of them had made even more progress during that one small encounter.

"Thank you. I truly hope I will too."

With those last few words she turned to head out of the stifling heat of the room, while Belle took a few step forward to say her own cheerful, "Hello."

In the quiet calmness of the corridor outside, Emma pulled out the signed picture to check over the inscription Robin had written for her friend.

 _Mary-Margret,_

 _I don't know if anyone's ever told you this before,_

 _but you have a wonderful friend._

 _I hope to see you soon._

 _Yours,_

 _Robin Locksley._

* * *

With all but Killian's autograph session left for their weekend, Emma and Belle took their places in the hall once more, ready for the final panel of the convention.

Both girls were feeling a little down, knowing that their time together was rapidly drawing to a close. The magic that came from a convention weekend was once again wearing off, and if the atmosphere in the room was anything to judge by, everyone around them was feeling it too.

"We really need to pick a date to get together and just do it," Emma told her friend, as she turned a little in her seat to face her.

"I agree. When we get back we can check with Regina and Ruby to see when they're free, and then have our own girls weekend away. Maybe head to a spa or something? Lord knows it'll be more relaxing than these weekends are."

Emma snorted a laugh at Belle's addendum, but she couldn't argue with her friend. While she absolutely loved the events, she often came away from them feeling physically and emotionally drained. She'd heard of the term con-crash before, but she'd never truly believed it to be real until she'd had the chance to experience it for herself.

And Emma assumed that her own con-crash was much less intense than it would be for others, given the intimate nature of her relationship with Killian Jones.

Before either of the women could say anything else, their MC took to the stage to thank the audience for their attendance that weekend, before finally introducing Killian to the crowd once more.

While Emma had exchanged dozens of messages with him throughout the day, it had still felt like a small eternity had passed since she'd last seen her boyfriend.

"Ugh. You forgot to tell me how pretty he looked today," Belle groaned, as she sank down a little further into her seat.

"It's Killian Jones," Emma chuckled softly. "He _always_ looks pretty."

Belle said nothing else, but the look she shot her friend told Emma that she was in full agreement with that statement.

* * *

Killian's panel that afternoon was just as fun and exciting as they had expected it to be. Some of the questions he was asked Emma and Belle had heard before. But Killian kept his answers fresh, giving the crowd a different explanation for his change of reply that day, whilst still managing to sound genuine in all of his responses.

The majority of the people in the room hadn't been present for the exclusive panel he'd given the morning before, so Emma was surprised to note that nobody was brave enough to ask more questions about the mystery woman in his life. Although, she assumed that there were probably a fair few people who had gotten the message from the panel threads posted to twitter.

When the MC made his way back onto stage to signal that Killian needed to start wrapping things up, a collective groan sounded around the room.

"I'm sorry, Guys," he pouted, looking just as disappointed that his time was over as they were. "But I promise I'll be back soon. I've had a wonderful weekend with you all. And because I'm all about rebelling against authority, I'll answer one more question before I go."

The woman still stood behind the microphone at the side of the room looked like Christmas had come early for her, as Killian turned all of his focus her way. But when she turned slightly to direct her question to both him, and the audience at large, Emma groaned a little in dismay.

"I was just wondering," she began smugly, "is it true that you let someone handcuff you in a photo op this weekend?"

"Isn't that…"

"Yeah," Emma cut Belle off. "It's her." The same interfering woman who had been so sure that Killian would reject her poses during his photo ops the day before.

"Um… no," Killian replied firmly, shaking his head at her question. "I did not let anyone handcuff me this weekend during a photo op." There was a moment of awkward confusion in the room, and Emma assumed that her story had already made the rounds on social media, courtesy of the people who had been behind her in line.

"I was the one doing the handcuffing," her boyfriend added cheekily, as a series of loud whoops and cheers went around the audience.

Belle gently knocked her friend's shoulder with her own, as Emma wished the ground would open up and swallow her whole in that moment.

She had a feeling that handcuffs were about to become a regular part of Killian's future convention weekends.

"Okay. I think that's probably a good time for me to wrap things up," he chuckled. "Thanks for having me, Guys. I'll see some of you for autographs in a few minutes time, and to the rest of you – I wish you safe travels home." He gave the audience a mischievous wink as he slid off the stool he'd been sat on, and placed his microphone carefully down on top of it, before finally making his way off the stage to the sound of thunderous applause.

* * *

 **How much trouble do you think I'd be in if I skipped autos and we just went back to the hotel?**

Emma chuckled as she read through the message quickly, before tapping out her reply.

 _You'd never do it._

 _You love your fans too much to disappoint them._

 _But I appreciate you saying that you would for me._

She and Belle had made a quick stop in the bathroom before their autograph session. They had both felt the need to freshen up a little before coming face-to-face with Killian Jones again, and Emma had used the time to check her messages.

 **True.**

 **I love that you know me so well.**

 **I'm counting the hours until I can get into that car, though.**

 **Today's felt like some kind of cruel and unusual torture.**

 _Soon, Baby._

 _Soon._

 _If I make it back before you do, I promise I'll be waiting in something pretty for you._

 **Well… that just makes this even more torturous.**

 **I'm being called away again.**

 **See you soon, Beautiful. X**

Emma smiled down at her phone before she locked the device and slipped it into her pocket. She was truly hoping she would make it back to the hotel before he did. She'd brought one more killer outfit with her for the weekend, and she _really_ wanted to spend the rest of her night having her boyfriend fuck her senseless in it.

"Is everything okay?" Belle asked, when she finally met her friend outside of the bathrooms.

"Yeah, sorry. I was just replying to a few messages," Emma chuckled. The half-truth felt a lot better leaving her mouth than her blatant lies had all weekend.

"Ugh. I haven't even checked mine yet. I know there'll be something from work waiting for me. And I'm not ready for reality to invade the fantasy quite yet."

"I'm sorry you have to go straight back in." Emma was grateful that David had offered to cover the Monday for her again. She wasn't quite ready to get back to reality just yet either.

"It's okay." Belle waved away her concerns easily. "I mean, at least I got to come, right?"

"Definitely," Emma agreed, as they flashed their badges at the girl on the door to slip into the room and join Killian's queue.

While Emma's view was blocked pretty well by a lot of the people in front of her, she still managed to twist far enough to get a good look at the desk that was set up for him. Killian was already there, with his head bent over whatever it was he was signing, but Emma watched as his eyes flicked up every now and then to land on the person in front of him, while they made conversation.

It was quite obvious that her man was one of the most popular on the convention circuits for the show. But he never let the people around him hurry him through encounters. He took the time to say hello and goodbye to everyone who came to stand before him, and he would make light conversation with them while he signed. It was one of the many reasons why he was so loved by his fans.

As the line slowly crept forward, Emma could feel the nerves inside her friend begin to grow.

"How are you so calm?" Belle whispered.

"I'm not," Emma chuckled. "I'm just getting better at hiding it." She wasn't lying either. Spending so much time around Killian had helped her to control those inner fangirl impulses she had. But with every step forward she took, she felt her heart kick up another notch.

"What are you getting signed this time?" Belle asked, as she fished out her own photo op when they were finally close enough to see the man fully.

Emma had forgotten how well that shirt he was wearing emphasised his biceps. Every time he moved to hand an item back to the fan in front of him it tightened deliciously, stretching over the muscle hidden beneath it, before relaxing back when he dropped his arm down again.

"I'm sorry, what?" she asked, shaking her head to clear it a little.

Belle giggled at her friend knowingly as she repeated her question once more.

"Um… this one, I think." Emma pulled out the photo op where Killian had handcuffed himself to her, and set it safely down on top of her folder.

"Ugh. You're such a lucky bitch," Belle chuckled.

The woman stood just behind Emma rocked forward onto her toes to peer down at the photo op over her shoulder, before tapping Emma gently on her arm to get her attention. "You were the girl with the handcuffs?" she asked curiously.

"Uh, yeah. That was me."

"That's a really cute photo op," she praised. "What did you ask for to get it?"

"He um… he remembered me from another event," Emma explained vaguely. "So it was all his idea."

"Wow. That's so cool. I can't believe he recognised you," she gushed. "Have you been to many events before?"

"Emma's done every one this year," Belle threw in for her friend. "What?" she asked, at the dirty look Emma gave her in return. "We'd all be there with you if we could."

As Killian's line slowly progressed forward, Emma and Belle made their last new friend of the weekend in the form of the lovely Merida that stood just behind them. She'd flown out from Scotland to meet the cast of her favourite show, and the girls were thrilled to hear that she'd been having a wonderful time in the USA, ever since she'd arrived at the beginning of the week. It made their wait far more interesting as they listened to Merida speak about all of the things she'd seen and done, that she'd never even dreamed she'd be able to do before, while Emma and Belle gave her suggestions of what she could do with the rest of her time left in the country.

Which is why when Belle gently nudged Emma, and cocked her head in the direction of Killian's table, Emma felt entirely unprepared for what was about to come. She'd been so distracted by her friends that she hadn't realised they had subtly put her at the front of the line.

"Are you sure you don't wanna go first?" she asked them both. But their twin headshakes didn't surprise her. "Damn."

She shook her head for a moment to clear it, fully aware that the two girls behind her would be watching and analysing every small interaction she was about to engage in, as she waited for Killian to finish with the woman who was currently gushing to him over his role in a small indie movie she'd recently seen.

Emma loved watching the way he blushed as she praised his performance, talking about how it moved her to tears during one part of the film, while he shook his own head slightly. It was almost as if he didn't quite believe that he was deserving of the praise she was bestowing upon him.

When the woman finally left, Killian took a moment for himself, turning his body slightly as he reached for one of the bottles of water waiting for him. Emma didn't want to interrupt that time, but she was being waved in by his PA, and she didn't want to annoy the poor woman either.

"She was right, you know," Emma stated softly, as she slid the picture onto the table in front of him.

Killian turned at the sound of her voice, a beatific smile lighting his face as he did.

"Right about what?" he asked, picking up the picture. He frowned a little when he realised that the other two weren't sat underneath it, and Emma sighed as she fished her protective box from her bag, to place the others into his line of sight, while she answered his question.

"Your performance in Darkness Awakens. I cried watching that movie too. Jack's struggle was just so realistic and heart breaking."

Killian said nothing as he scribbled on the first picture she'd set down for him, before slowly raising his eyes to meet hers as he handed it back. "Thank you. I'm um… I'm really glad you liked it," he stuttered out bashfully.

Emma nodded her own head in agreement as she turned her attention to the next of her photo ops. Killian hadn't seen them the night before, when she'd returned to the hotel room. With Robin there they had both been distracted for a while, and by the time he'd left, the two of them were struggling to keep their hands off each other. Thoughts of photoshoots had been far from Emma's mind in that moment.

"This was fun," he chuckled, as he looked down to the second image that had been taken, and was currently sat on top of the pile. "Have you ever been cuffed before, Sheriff?"

"Once or twice," Emma threw back at him, delighting in the way Killian's eyes widened in surprise. She knew that would be something she'd be hearing about as soon as they were alone again. "But never by someone as pretty as you."

Killian threw his head back in laughter as he handed Emma the last of her images, his index finger brushing lightly against the fluttering pulse in her wrist. "Thanks, Emma," he said softly when he'd finally calmed back down. "I'll see you soon."

"Yeah. You will," she confirmed, before turning to walk away from him.

She was too busy reading the inscription Killian had printed onto her second photo to notice Belle step up to take her place.

 **Emma,**

 **Make sure these are a part of your plans for this evening.**

 **I love you.**

 **X**

* * *

Emma, Belle and Merida gathered in the bar after the autograph session to say their final goodbyes to each other. (And flail a little more about how pretty Killian Jones's eyes were). Merida was planning to stay the evening, before flying on to the next leg of her journey, while Belle would need to leave on the hour to get to the airport on time.

So after one last drink together, during which numbers and social media details were exchanged, Emma got into one taxi to head back to her hotel suite, while Belle climbed into another, headed for O'Hare International and her flight back to Boston. Merida waved both of their cars away before taking a seat on one of the benches outside of the hotel, to wait for her pizza to arrive.

As Emma sank back into her seat she pulled out her phone to message her boyfriend, while the taxi driver navigated the roads of the city. She knew that as she and her friends had all been lucky enough to secure gold passes, they had gotten in and out of Killian's autograph session fairly quickly. So she wasn't expecting the speedy reply she got back from him.

 **Hopefully it won't be much longer than ninety minutes until I'm back at the hotel.**

 **Make sure you order some room service when you get there and eat!**

 **I know you don't like to eat a lot while you're here.**

 **But I have big plans for you tonight, Sheriff ;-)**

She giggled a little at his message before tapping out a reassurance that she would order something while she waited for his return, before slipping her phone back into her pocket. She didn't want to distract him any further. That would only lead to Killian spending even longer signing that evening. And Emma knew that wasn't fair on him, his fans patiently waiting their turn, or the organisers of the event.

It didn't take her long to get back to the hotel, and once she was safely inside of their suite once more, Emma felt all of the energy and adrenaline from the day begin to seep out of her. She quickly kicked off her shoes and called down to the kitchen for some room service, before making her way through to the en suite to start drawing herself a bath.

She wanted a chance to pamper herself a little before she braved the last gift she had waiting for Killian, and with him still signing, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to take advantage of what the luxurious suite had to offer.

* * *

"Emma?" Killian called out softly, as he finally pushed open the door to their suite once more. It had been two hours since she'd left the hotel and he was only just making it back to her. So Killian had fully expected to return to a sleeping girlfriend.

"I'm in here," she called back softly, startling him a little.

He dropped his bag down in front of the sofa and toed off his boots, before making his way through to the bedroom to find his beautiful girlfriend. But when his eyes finally landed on her form, spread across the white linen of the bed, Killian froze in place.

"Wow," he eventually managed to croak out. "Is um… is that for me?"

"Yeah," she replied nervously, looking down at herself. "I know it's a little sexier that what I normally wear but…"

"You look stunning," Killian hurried to assure her. The last thing he wanted was for Emma to interpret his shocked silence as a dislike for what she was wearing.

Because he was pretty certain he'd never wanted her more than he did in that moment.

"So fucking gorgeous," he continued, as his brain finally seemed to connect with the rest of his body. He dropped his hand down to open the buckle on his belt, before popping the button on his jeans. "Tell me that zip goes as far down as I think it does," he begged, pushing the denim and cotton of his underwear down in one quick movement, to free his rapidly growing erection.

Emma swallowed hard at the evidence of what she was doing to him, before she pushed herself up to a sitting position. "There's another at the back," she whispered softly, keeping her eyes glued to the sway of his cock as he kicked his legs free of the fabric, before taking a step closer to the bed.

"Fuck me," Killian growled back. "And those bows. Are they purely decorative?"

Emma pulled her eyes away when she saw his shirt hit the floor, to toy with the end of the one covering her left nipple. She waited until Killian had pulled his t-shirt off, and was stood completely bare before her, to tug gently on the end of the bow.

"Jesus Christ. That might be the best piece of clothing you own," he chuckled harshly, as he took himself in hand.

Emma pushed herself up onto her knees, shuffling a little closer to the edge of the bed as she watched his fist make strong, confident strokes along his shaft. Killian grinned wickedly as he saw the way her tongue darted out to wet her bottom lip, before she sucked it into her mouth.

"What do you want?" he asked, bringing his free hand up to cup the side of her jaw, before he tugged her trapped lip free with his thumb. He knew that Emma was becoming much more confident around him, especially when it came to their sex life. The red leather and lace combination she was wearing was evidence of that. But she struggled a little with voicing her wants sometimes. And that was something he was determined to help her with.

Because Killian wanted nothing more than to give Emma Swan her every heart's desire.

"You," she whispered back, as her eyes continued to track the movement of his hand.

"You have me," he chuckled lightly. "You always will. I just want to know _how_ you want me right now."

Emma's eyes flash up to meet his, and Killian made sure to hold her gaze as she swallowed heavily to whisper, "In my mouth. I want you in my mouth." He took a small step back to bend down and press his lips to hers, making sure that she knew just how much he loved hearing her speak up, before he took another step slightly further back.

Emma's lips turned down into a pout as Killian moved over to the side of the room to fish through his own suitcase, before he returned a moment later with her cuffs dangling from his index finger.

"And do you want these too, Sweetheart?"

"Yes," she croaked out. Suddenly wanting nothing more.

"You definitely have the keys for these, right?" he checked. The last thing either of them needed was to be publicly outed due to an emergency with a pair of handcuffs.

"They're in my purse," she confirmed, as she watched that predatory smirk work its way over his face once more.

"Hands behind your back then, Sheriff."

Emma complied instantly, sliding off the bed to stand before him with her hands held out in silent offering.

"This," he remarked, as he tugged on the golden zipper that rested just above the top of her ass, "Is going to come in incredibly handy tonight."

The cuffs came down on her wrists gently, snapping into place just tight enough to stop her from pulling her wrists free, but not tight enough that they would leave any lasting marks from their final night together. Killian reached behind her to snag a pillow from the head of the bed, before dropping it down to the floor in front of him.

"Are you okay with this?" he double checked, as his hands came up to stroke the hair away from her face.

"More than."

Their eyes locked briefly for another moment. Emma's fully communicating her love and trust for the naked man stood before her, while Killian's reassured her that he treasured the gift she was giving to him, and that he would never do anything to abuse it. Until he looked away to gently push on her shoulders, encouraging Emma down to her knees, on the pillow.

"Good girl," Killian praised. "Let's try this, shall we?" With a firm grip on himself, he tapped his cock gently against her lower lip. "Open up for me, Sweetheart."

Emma didn't need to be told twice.

Killian let her set the pace as she nosed gently at his shaft, placing small kisses everywhere she could reach, before she flicked her tongue out to run over the underside of it.

"Jesus," he sighed, the relief at finally having her mouth on him warring with that constant need for more he always felt around her. When she finally opened her mouth wider to take him in, his knees were ready to buckle under the sensations flooding his body.

Killian threaded his fingers through her hair, allowing Emma to continue setting a pace she felt most comfortable with, but still giving her the illusion that he held power over her in that moment. The kind of power that had her moaning around him as her hips jerked pointlessly, seeking a kind of friction that was impossible for her to find in that position.

"Okay, Sweetheart," he gasped out, as he felt that tell-tale tightening begin; telling him that he was far too close to their night being over too early. "If you don't want this to end prematurely, then you're gonna need to stop."

Emma pulled herself back with a wicked pop, allowing her tongue to dart out and lick around the head of his cock, before it swiped across her own lower lip.

She looked so deliciously deviant doing so, that Killian couldn't stop himself from crashing his lips into her own, as he helped pull her back up to her feet.

Emma tugged uselessly at her restraints, wanting nothing more than to hold her boyfriend close in that moment, and whined when she couldn't get herself free.

"Don't worry, Love," he reassured her. "This will be the least of your frustrations tonight." Killian grinned wickedly once more as he swept her up into his arms, before depositing her down onto the bed.

Emma squealed a little with the sudden movement, until she felt him urging her back up onto her knees once more. When she was in a position that he was clearly happy with, she felt the slow drag of the zip at the back of her bodysuit being lowered, as Killian's other hand dropped down to help pull the tight fabric apart.

"Tell me this comes in other colours," he begged, his voice dark with his desire.

"A few," she chuckled breathlessly.

"I'll buy them all for you."

Killian urged her up once more, before settling himself back down on the bed with his head between her thighs. "What a view," he remarked cheekily, before pulling her down to meet his hungry mouth.

Emma thought she was ready for the first brush of his tongue against the place where she was aching most for him. But there was nothing in the world that could have prepared her for that feeling.

"Steady," he warned, as she wobbled precariously without the use of her arms to stabilise herself. Killian wrapped his own tightly around her thighs, helping to keep her upright as he teased around her lips, lapping at the wetness that was already gathered there between suckling kisses and light nips of his teeth.

When he finally drew his tongue up to suck on her clitoris, Emma couldn't help the way she ground herself down onto his face, begging Killian, "More. Oh God, more. Please."

He freed one of his hands to trail down to where she needed his attention most, circling it gently around the spot he knew would have her seeing stars, as he used his tongue to fuck her as best as he could, from the position they were in.

"I'm not gonna stop until you come for me," he warned darkly, still not quite giving her the firm touch she needed to make that happen.

"I'm close," Emma assured him. "So close."

Her hips were moving again, rutting against his face she sought the friction she needed most to help her topple over that ledge, into a pool of bliss.

It was the sharp pinch of Killian's fingers against her clit that finally sent her over, toppling to the bed as she lost control of her own body for a moment.

When she came to, her hands were still cuffed behind her back, but she could feel the comforting heat of her boyfriend's chest pressed to them, as his own hips rocked gently into hers.

"How are you doing, Sweetheart?" he asked softly, as he brushed a kiss to her hair.

"Mmm. Good," Emma mumbled. "So very good."

Killian chuckled as his hand came up to slip into the open lace covering her left breast, teasing the nipple beneath it. "Do you have one more left in you for me?"

She turned her head to meet his lips with a searing kiss, as Killian reached down to hitch one of her legs over his hip. It took a moment of fumbling for him to realise he needed to unzip her a little more for them to have some freedom to move with, before he was finally sliding into her once again.

"Oh God," Emma moaned, as she threw her head back onto his shoulder. The position they were in had rapidly become a favourite of hers that weekend, and the feeling of Killian moving inside of her would never fail to fill her with awe. But it was the cuffs that still held her hands tightly bound behind her back that had her climbing higher, much faster than she ever had before. "Killian, please," she begged. She was already delirious from the pleasure coursing through her veins. Emma didn't even know what she was begging him for.

"It's okay, Love," he assured her, as he tugged on the bow on the other side of her chest to offer her neglected breast the same attention. "I'll take good care of you."

Killian angled his hips up to drag a little more against where he knew she would be most sensitive for him, as he slipped his hand out of her suit and down to where the two of them were joined.

"I think you like being cuffed, Sherriff," he drawled darkly, his accent thickening once more with his lust. "You're absolutely drenched for me already."

Killian lifted his wet fingers to his lips, sucking on them noisily as Emma whined in his arms, still desperate for that _something_ thatshe couldn't name.

"What's wrong, Love?" he teased. "Do you want a taste too?" Before she could answer he dropped his hand ones more, swirling his fingertips through the moisture that was gathering on both of their thighs. He made a show out of drawing soft circles around her clitoris, that were far too light to bring Emma any kind of relief, before he finally lifted his fingers to her lips.

Emma found herself sucking greedily on them before she could even comprehend what she was doing, sending Killian's hips bucking into her own a little harder in response.

Because that was quite possibly the sexiest thing he'd ever seen her do.

"Fuck. I'm not gonna last much longer if you keep doing that," he told her. Somehow, the way she was sucking on his fingers was just as arousing as it was when her lips were wrapped tightly around his cock.

"Harder," Emma begged. "Fuck me harder. Please"

Killian picked up his pace, snapping his hips into her own with a force he knew would leave marks in the morning. But neither of them seemed to care, as they worked together to chase their own release.

Emma was the first to fall, when his fingers finally drifted back down to rub tight circles into her clit.

Killian held out just long enough to watch his beautiful girlfriend come apart in his arms, before he finally let go, emptying himself inside of her.

As they both drifted back to reality, their breathing calming from harsh pants to soft sighs, Emma whispered into the darkness of the room, "I don't know how I'm supposed to leave you tomorrow."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

 **Special thanks go to Halfkender, Alexa, Luna, Talz and all the other wonderful guest reviewers. I'm sorry I can't reply to you in person.**


	33. Chapter 33

**If you follow me on Tumblr, you'll know I was considering splitting this one in half. To help with the flow of the story, I've added a double line break where the split would have occurred.**

* * *

When Emma woke the next morning, it was both far too early and far too warm.

She was wrapped up tightly in Killian's arms, and buried under the comforter. But she'd fallen asleep that night before she could remove her bodysuit, and the leather was proving to be difficult to sleep in.

She pulled herself out of Killian's arms as best she could, while he mumbled his protests into her pillow, and slipped out of the bed to pad quietly through to the bathroom. But when she switched on the light to see what she was doing, the harshness of the bulb seemed to illuminate every worry and concern that had been buried deep inside of her, and Emma crumbled to her knees as her tears and fears began to overwhelm her.

"Sweetheart?" Killian called out softly, as he made his way over to her side to pull her back into his arms. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Emma mumbled unconvincingly into his chest. "I just… I don't wanna go home."

"Me either," he assured her, as he ran a soothing hand through her hair, gently teasing out the tangles that had formed as she had slept.

"I wish we could stay here forever," she mumbled petulantly. Even with the separation they had been forced into as part of the convention, Emma had still enjoyed her time with Killian. And letting him go again was proving to be more and more difficult with every passing second.

"I guess it's time for us to talk about our future, huh?"

"Yeah." Emma sniffled a little into his chest, before she pulled away to grab some tissue.

"How about we do this in bed?" Killian suggested with a chuckle, as he used the pads of his thumbs to brush away the last of her tears. "It's much more comfortable than this cold bathroom floor."

Emma let Killian pull her up to her feet, before she remembered that there had actually been a reason she had come into the bathroom. "I just wanna change out of this," she chuckled, as she teased the zip at the front of the suit. "It's a little uncomfortable to sleep in."

Killian's eyes darkened at the movement her hand made, as it drew his attention down to the way her nipples had pebbled in the cool air of the room, and how visible they were through the gaps in the lace.

"Yes. Right. Of course," he mumbled, shaking his head to snap his thoughts out of the gutter. "Do you want me to grab you something more comfortable to change into?"

"One of your shirts?" she asked shyly. "They're far more comfortable, and they smell like you."

Killian leaned forward to brush a kiss to Emma's hair, as he told her, "I'll be back with one in a second."

When she finally emerged from the bathroom wearing one of her boyfriend's white t-shirts, it was to find the soft light beside the bed switched on, and a half-naked Killian Jones sat against the headboard waiting for her.

"What?" he asked quietly, when he saw the affectionate smile creep its way onto her face.

"Nothing. I just… I was just thinking about how nice it would be to come out of the bathroom to that sight every night."

Killian held out his hand in silent invitation, and Emma slid her own into it as she made her way back around the bed to climb in on her own side.

"You could come to Canada," he suggested quietly, when she was back in his arms once more. "I know it's not an ideal situation, but I'm locked into a contract with the network for another two years, so I can't leave the country right now. But you could come up to me. And then, when my contract is up, we can come back to Storybrooke, if that's where you want to be?"

"You'd really do that?" she asked, pulling away a little to get a good look at Killian's face. Emma had known that the logical path would be for her to join Killian in Vancouver, given that his job was based there. But she hadn't expected him to suggest coming back to Storybrooke, when his contract was over.

Nobody had ever offered to give up something for her before. So Emma hadn't been expecting him to offer to give up so much, just to be with her.

"Of course I would," he scoffed. "Relationships are about compromise, right? If you're willing to come to me before my contract ends, then I'm willing to come back with you when it does."

"What about your home?" she pressed. "I mean, don't you miss it? Wouldn't you rather go back there, than be stuck with me in sleepy Storybrooke?"

"I um… I do miss home," he admitted softly. "But I had resigned myself to being away from it the moment I left all those years ago. I just… I hate that one of us needs to sacrifice so much for us to be together. And I don't think it's fair that you should be the one to make the biggest sacrifice, in order for that to happen. As long as I'm with you, Emma, I honestly don't care where we live."

Emma twisted in the sheets so that she was facing her sweet boyfriend, and took his hands into her own. "I've never really had a place to call home before Storybrooke," she told him. "But it's not the town that's my home. Or even my apartment. It's the people in it that make Storybrooke feel like home. They might not be my family in a biological sense, but they're the first real family I've ever had. And I um… It'll be hard to say goodbye to that. But we can go back and visit, right?"

"Of course," Killian agreed. "As often as you want to. Every weekend, if that's what you want. We can even fly friends and family out to us too, no matter where we choose to settle. Whatever your heart desires, Emma. That's all I want for you."

"I don't need to be living in Storybrooke to be happy, Killian. But saying goodbye to you gets harder every time we have to do it. So I think my true home is wherever you are."

"It does for me too," he assured her. "And there's no rush. You don't ever have to come to Canada if you don't want to. I'd just… I'd really love to wake up next to you every morning, Emma Swan."

"I'd like that too." She smiled sweetly as Killian pulled her back into his arms to give her a soft kiss, before he eased her gently back down to rest against his chest.

"How about we get a few more hours of sleep, and then we can do something special before we leave for the airport?" he suggested, dropping another kiss into her hair.

"That sounds perfect," Emma mumbled back. Her eyelids were already drooping, as he wrapped her up in the warmth and comfort of his embrace.

* * *

When Emma woke a little later it was slightly brighter in the room. The bed was still warm on Killian's side but this time it was empty, and she could hear the faint sounds of the shower running from inside of the bathroom.

She turned her head to check the time, and smiled fondly when she found a steaming mug of coffee sat beside the bed waiting for her. A small sip told her it had been prepared exactly the way she liked it, and there was a small plate containing her favourite breakfast pastries stood next to it.

"Hey, you're awake?" Killian noted, as he stepped out of the bathroom in nothing but a pair of jeans.

Emma's mind froze for a moment as she watched him run a towel through his hair, before she allowed her eyes to trace one rogue drop that slipped down the side of his neck, to run over his left pec. It was only when Killian cleared his throat softly to get her attention, that she snapped out of her lust-fuelled haze.

"Yeah. Sorry. Con weekends really take it out of ya," she teased. "Are we um… are we going anywhere in particular?" She nodded to indicate the jeans that he was already wearing.

"Yes, actually. I have something planned for this afternoon, before we have to leave for the airport. I thought we could stop off and get some lunch first, if you wanted to?"

"That sounds wonderful to me," she chuckled, as she picked up her mug and settled back against the headboard to finish drinking her coffee, while she watched her boyfriend dress himself.

Only Killian Jones could make putting on clothes look just as sexy as when he took them off.

"So, do I get any clues as to where we're going?"

"Nope," he chuckled, as he took a seat beside her on the bed, and leaned over to steal one of her pastries. "But I have a feeling that you'll love it."

"As long as you're there with me, I have no doubts about that."

Killian dropped the pastry he was holding down onto the bed, in favour of pulling his girlfriend in for another kiss. One that he intended to use to show Emma just how much her words meant to him, even if he couldn't find his own to express the sentiment to her. But as things usually did where Emma was concerned, Killian soon found himself caught up in her, as his hands came up to frame her face, tilting it to deepened their kisses.

Emma moaned a little into the small space between them as she twisted on the bed, turning to face the man she loved.

But when she felt something warm splash against her lap, she quickly pulled back.

"Shit."

They'd both been far too caught up in each other to remember that Emma had been holding a half-empty mug of coffee, before they'd started making out.

"Don't worry about it," Killian chuckled, as he watched her twist around in search of something to clean the mess up with. "I'm sure housekeeping will take care of that. Why don't you go and get showered so we can get out of here? I have a feeling that if we wait too long, we're just gonna end up making a bigger mess of this bed."

"I wouldn't necessarily object to that."

Emma giggled as her boyfriend slid off the bed to put some distance between the two of them, as he groaned at her words. While he finished getting dressed for whatever plans he'd made for their day, she ate the last of her breakfast in silence.

Emma honestly wouldn't have objected to spending the rest of their time together in bed, but she had to admit that she was curious to see what her sweet boyfriend had planned for their afternoon.

* * *

After checking out of their beautiful suite, Emma and Killian loaded their bags into the back of his rental car, before taking their seats. Whatever he had planned for the day wouldn't give the two of them enough time to return before Emma's flight was due to leave, and a part of her regretted that.

Saying goodbye to Killian in private was hard enough. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to do it in public.

But Emma pushed aside her fears of what was to come in order to focus on fully enjoying what was left of her trip to the Windy City.

Killian had gotten the name of a good restaurant close to their intended destination from one of the check-in staff at the hotel, so after plugging the address into his phone, they both set off for what was left of their last day together. It only took about ten minutes for Emma to realise where they were headed, but he was pretty sure she couldn't guess _exactly_ what their plans would be for the day.

"Lake Michigan?" she asked excitedly, almost bouncing in her seat. "I've always wanted to visit the Great Lakes."

"I'll pitch some new cities to the organisers next year for you," Killian teased, as he reached out to take Emma's hand into his own. He raised it to his lips to press a sweet kiss to her knuckle, before dropping it down to hold against his thigh. "Or, we could be really daring and even book a couple of vacations together that _don't_ involve us being separated for the majority of our time together."

"You mean those kinds of holidays actually exist?" Emma chuckled, playing along with his joke. "And here was me thinking you could only go away for conventions."

Killian laughed along with his girlfriend as he easily navigated the roads of Chicago. It wasn't long until he was pulling the car into a parking lot just outside of a small lake-side restaurant, with stunning views across the open water.

"I'm sorry it's not a romantic, sunset dinner experience. But I promise I'll make up for it the next time we're in the city."

Emma leaned forward to brush a chaste kiss to her boyfriend's lips, before she pulled back to meet his eyes. "Thisis perfect," she assured him. "I don't need romantic sunset dinners for that. I just want to spend as much time with you as I possibly can."

"Then your wish is my command, Milady."

Emma giggled as Killian pulled open his car door with a flourish, before jogging round to her side of the vehicle to help her out.

The small restaurant was the perfect location for the two of them to share a lunch date. It was far enough outside of the city that nobody there recognised Killian, but the food was still of the kind of quality that Emma had come to associate with big city restaurants, making it the perfect location for their last day in Chicago.

But it was their secondary destination that had Emma gushing over just how wonderful her boyfriend was, as he helped her climb the gangplank onto the ship that they would soon be setting sail on.

"I can't believe you booked a pirate ship tour of the lake," she giggled. "Don't you spend enough time on ships at work?"

The elderly couple behind them threw a strange look their way, but Killian either didn't notice, or didn't care.

"I've actually been missing the Jolly recently," he teased. "Besides, we both know that deep down, you fell for the Captain before you fell for Killian."

"I did. But I love Killian more," she assured him, as he pulled her back into his arms to hold her close.

* * *

The pirate tour was such a wonderfully unique way for the couple to spend their final day together in Chicago. While Killian had been worried that an early afternoon cruise wouldn't be as romantic as the ones that set sail at sunset, he'd really had nothing to be concerned about.

Emma loved every single minute of the tour.

Although, her favourite part was perhaps the moment where the elderly couple had caught the two of them talking about Killian's own experiences on location, filming scenes on board the Jolly Roger. Emma had been forced to explain that the sweet Irish man stood next to her played a loveable version of Captain Hook on television, and the reactions from the elderly couple had been simply priceless. After she had explained the premise for the show, they had both promised to tune in the following weekend to see Killian in action.

The couple had also been kind enough to offer to take some pictures of Emma and Killian together, so that they would have plenty to remember their weekend by.

But all too soon, Killian was pulling back into the rental agency at O'Hare international, with Emma's departure time looming ahead of them.

"I hate this," she whispered, as she dropped her forehead down to rest against his.

"Me too." Killian brought his hand up to push Emma's hair back off her shoulders, before wrapping his arm tightly around them to hold her close. "But I'll see you again real soon. You still have that ticket to Vancouver for next month, right?"

"Yeah," she chuckled bitterly, because even with those tickets tucked away in her safe, October still seemed so far away. "David's already agreed to cover the extra time for me."

"Good. Because I plan to be really greedy with my time with you that weekend. I might not let you leave my bed."

"Who says I'd want you to?" she teased.

The two of them shared one last laugh before their expressions fell, as the clock on the dash counted down the minutes they had left together.

"You'll call me when you get home, right?" he worried.

"You'll be on a flight then," Emma reminded him gently. While her own was only half as long as Killian's would be, he had insisted on booking his flight home for a later time, so that she wouldn't be forced to wait alone at the airport when he'd left. "But I'll send you a message as soon as I land, so you don't have to worry about me."

Killian nodded his agreement as he took her hands into his own, to link their fingers together between them. "I'll call you when I get back to my place."

"After you've called your mother," she scolded gently. The last thing she wanted was for Killian's family to worry about his safety.

"I'll call you before," he chuckled. "She's um… she's been asking about you all weekend, and I've been dodging her calls. So it might take me a while to get her off the phone."

"She knows about me?" Emma asked, caught off guard by Killian's confession. She wasn't really sure when the appropriate time was to tell one's parents about the person they were dating, given that she'd never been through the process herself. But somehow, knowing that a part of Killian's family knew about her, filled Emma with a kind of warmth she was struggling to explain.

"Of course they do. I love you, Emma. Why wouldn't I wanna share that news with them?"

Emma didn't know how to answer that question, so instead, she leaned forward to press her lips to his once more, trying to convey through her kisses just how much she loved him, as Killian tightened his grip on her hands and met her passion with just as much of his own.

"I should um… I should go," she eventually stated, pulling away to drop her forehead down to rest against his once more.

Emma didn't want to leave the car, or Killian's embrace. But she knew that the longer she put it off, the less chance she'd have of actually leaving on the right flight that evening.

Killian nodded his understanding but didn't let go of her hands, or make a move to exit the vehicle. "I'll um… I'll help you with your bags."

It took them a few more moments of just sitting and staring at each other for one of them to finally move. Emma was the one to break the stillness in the car, detangling her fingers from his to cup his face, as she pressed another kiss to his lips, just savouring that warmth and comfort that always radiated through her whenever she did.

"I love you, Killian."

"I love you too," he declared, closing the space between them to press one final kiss to her lips, inside the privacy of their car. "Let's um… let's get you checked in on this flight before one of us does something we could come to regret."

Emma finally pulled away from the spell that Killian was inadvertently casting with his eyes, as she tugged on the door handle to slip out of the car. The cool air that hit her outside wasn't helping the tears that she was desperately trying to hold back.

"Are you okay, Sweetheart?" he asked, startling her out of her trance.

"Yeah. I um… I just… I'm gonna miss you," she whispered, because there was no way she could deny that, and there was no other explanation for how she was feeling in that moment.

She didn't fight him when Killian pulled her into his embrace. Instead, Emma simply melted into his arms, soaking up all of the comfort she could get, before she reluctantly pulled away.

"You um… you probably shouldn't come in," she chuckled. "You're bound to be spotted here. I know for a fact that some of the girls fly back on Monday instead of Sunday, because of how late the event can run."

"I wouldn't mind." Killian stuffed his hands into his pockets as he rocked back onto his heels.

"I know. But I'd rather be by your side when it all comes out, than hundreds of miles away and alone."

"I get that." He reached forward to brush the hair out of her face before he pressed his lips firmly to her forehead. "Have a safe flight home, Emma."

"You too," she choked out, hating how weak her voice sounded in that instant. "I love you."

"I love you more."

His lips travelled down across her forehead, brushing lightly over her closed eyes; her cheeks; and her nose, before finally stopping at her lips.

The two lovers savoured that one final moment they had before pulling apart as one, for Emma to turn and head into the busy airport. She didn't look back until she was inside the entrance, because they both knew that if she had looked before that moment, Emma wouldn't have made her flight home that day.

* * *

It wasn't until she was back home in Storybrooke, and had the door to her apartment closed behind herself, that Emma finally allowed herself to cry the tears she had been fighting all day long.

* * *

"Sheriff. I um… I didn't realise you would be back today."

Emma cocked a brow at the man frozen in the doorway to her kitchen, wearing a red silk robe that was almost indecently short, as his cheeks flushed bright pink.

"Yeah. I got back last night," she chuckled, hoping it would break the awkward tension in the room. "Has Ruby left for work already?"

"Um… no… she's showering," Whale pointed out, looking longingly over his shoulder. There was nothing he wanted more in that moment than to escape back to the comfort of his girlfriend's bedroom.

"Okay. Well, there's fresh coffee if you want some?" she offered, taking her own mug over to the island to sit down and begin sipping at it, as she browsed the paper's morning edition. It was always the best way to catch up on what had happened in town while she had been away. And if the front page was any indication, then nothing really had.

Whale was saved any further embarrassment when Ruby suddenly appeared behind him, rising onto her toes to press a kiss to his cheek, as she told him, "The shower's all yours, Babe," before turning her attention to Emma.

"Ems! You're back! I need to see _all_ of the pictures, and not just those cryptic ones Killian's been posting to Instagram."

"They're all here waiting for you," her friend chuckled, as she stood to make Ruby a mug of her own coffee. "How was your weekend?"

"Not bad," Ruby deflected easily. "Not bad at all. But I suspect yours was better. Did you honestly go on a pirate tour of Lake Michigan?"

Emma giggled fondly as she took her own seat at the kitchen island once again, and scrolled through to the images on her phone from that day. Killian had shared one to his Instagram page that she'd taken of him underneath a sign advertising the tour, and another that the elderly couple had taken of the two of them together on deck, looking out over the lake. She was once again almost completely unrecognisable in the second image, but Emma still loved the beauty of it.

"We did indeed," she told her friend. "There are some pictures on my phone, if you wanna see those too. Have I missed anything here in town?"

"Neal got into a drunken brawl with Leroy while you were gone," Ruby began casually, as if there was absolutely nothing odd about that statement. "But other than that, it's been pretty quiet around here."

"Wait, back up a second there. Neal did what?"

"David said something about it being a drunken brawl, but that he sorted it all out. You don't need to worry about him anymore, Emma," Ruby tried reassuring her. "Neal's not your responsibility."

Emma didn't look overly convinced, but she didn't ask any more questions about the incident either. She could always read the police reports when she got to the station later that morning, to see what had happened.

"Ugh. How do people not know that you two are together yet?" Ruby sighed, as she flicked through the images on Emma's phone, before holding up one of the selfies they had taken during Killian's meet and greet. It was the same image Emma had been using as her wallpaper since the weekend. " _This_ … This shit right here… this is so disgustingly loving, it's practically written all over your faces."

Emma shrugged her shoulders as she drained the last few sips in her mug, and then set it into the sink to wash when she got home later that evening. "I guess people aren't expecting it, so they're not exactly looking for it. Would you have guessed about us if you hadn't seen it for yourself?"

"But that's the point, Ems. I _saw_ it before I knew about it. You guys should probably consider coming out soon. I mean this in the best way possible, but the longer you leave it, the more chance you have of exposing yourselves accidentally. And I think it would be better for everyone if you did this on your own terms, rather than having it all blow up in your faces."

Emma nodded her agreement as she chewed over Ruby's words in silence. She'd been thinking the same thing, after how difficult the weekend had been. But she'd be lying if she said she didn't want Killian by her side, when that time came. She'd seen first-hand just how brutal the fandom could be when they turned on someone. And she knew that they would turn quickly on her, when it was all revealed. Emma selfishly wanted Killian by her side, offering the kind of comfort only he could, when that moment came.

"We um… we spoke about our living arrangements yesterday," she whispered softly.

When they had been discussing a potential move to Canada, all she could think about was how _good_ it would feel to finally be with Killian every single day, as opposed to constantly worrying about how she would be able to say goodbye to him once more.

There would be no more hiding their relationship, or sneaking around hotels and convention cities. They could go out together as all other couples did, and focus more on enjoying each other, than on keeping their secrets.

But now that she was back home again, the reality of that situation was starting to sink in. Emma had a job that she would need to make arrangements for, before she could even begin to consider leaving. There was no way David could cover the station alone, and she would feel awful if she had to put him into that position.

And then there was Ruby.

Her friend had just gotten out of Granny's place, and was starting to truly flourish whilst living as Emma's roommate. But with Emma no longer there to help pay the mortgage, she wasn't sure if Ruby would be able to afford the place on her own. And the last thing she wanted was to be the reason her friend was forced back to the bed and breakfast once more.

"You're moving to Canada?" Ruby asked, although she didn't seem all that surprised by the idea.

"No. I mean, not yet. I have things to take care of before that. But… yeah. Eventually. I just… I can't keep doing this Ruby. Every time we say goodbye it rips my soul apart, and I'm struggling to keep it together right now."

Ruby stood up to pull her friend in for a tight hug. "You shouldn't have to keep doing it, Ems. I knew the time would come eventually, so I'm not angry or anything. I mean, you're my best friend, so I'm gonna miss you like crazy. But I'm not angry you're going. I'd have made the same decision in your position. And probably a lot sooner than you two have."

"Well, I'm not going anywhere just yet," she chuckled. "There are still plenty more girl's nights in our future."

"How does tonight sound?" Ruby asked. "I recorded Fairytales while you were away. We could always grab a pizza and open a bottle of wine while we watch it together this evening?"

"It's a date," Emma promised, looking up to watch as Whale finally made his way out of Ruby's bedroom, wearing one of the suits she was more used to seeing him in. "Now, I have to get to work. Have a great day, you guys."

"You too, Sheriff," Whale called, out, looking less awkward now that he was dressed in his own armour for the day.

* * *

While Emma's first week back in Storybrooke was starting out as it usually did, Killian's own in Vancouver was getting off to a slightly unusual beginning.

"Hey, Mam," he greeted, as he hauled himself up the bed in an attempt to wake himself up. A quick look over to the clock on his bedside table showed it was only a little past seven, but as far as his mother was concerned, that was a perfectly acceptable time of the day for her to call.

"Don't you, 'Hey Mam,' me, Killian Jones. I've been trying to call you all weekend. It's rude to send your mother to voicemail."

"Sorry, Mam. I was just busy," he explained, scrubbing a harsh hand over his face. "I had that convention this weekend, in Chicago. And Emma was with me too. I didn't wanna waste our time together, given how little of it we seem to get."

"What do you mean you get so little time together?" she asked, her tone already softening at his words. Killian knew that his mother could never stay angry at him when he tugged on her heartstrings that way.

"Emma lives in Maine. We only really get to see each other over convention weekends. And those are never long enough." Although, if he were being completely honest, Killian was pretty sure she could move in with him, and he still wouldn't see enough of her.

"You said in your messages that the two of you had been dating for a while? How did you meet?"

"In a hotel elevator in Boston," he replied truthfully. While Killian was not yet ready to share with his mother just how they had both come to be in the same elevator, at the same time, he didn't want to lie to her either. "She um... she was having a bit of a panic attack, so I helped to calm her down."

"Well of course you did. I raised you to be a perfect gentleman. And you truly are," she gushed proudly.

Killian snorted a little as he thought back on the other elevator encounters he'd shared with Emma, since they'd first met. He wasn't exactly a perfect gentleman during those, but he wasn't about to point that out to his mother.

"When do we get some better pictures of her? Ones that actually show her beautiful face?" she asked, completely unaware of where Killian's mind had gone.

"I'll send some over before work," he chuckled. "You're gonna love her, Mam. Emma's… she's just perfect for me."

"I don't doubt that at all, Honey."

* * *

While Emma and Killian's first week apart transformed quickly into the second, the couple found their routine once more. They would exchange flirty and loving messages during the day, which quickly morphed into hours spent on the phone talking to one another before their nights were over.

It wasn't the same as being able to see each other, or being able to hold each other. But it was better than nothing.

During their third week apart things took a slight twist, as Killian revealed that he would be needed on set for night-shoots until the start of the following week. At first, the two of them struggled to find a time that would allow them to still speak to each other every day, and also worked with their own busy schedules. But eventually they realized that calls on Emma's lunchbreak usually coincided with the time Killian would be getting back home from work. And the days she worked the night shift at the station would provide them with a few extra hours to chat, whilst Killian was on his own breaks.

It was the only thing getting Emma through the long and boring nights in Storybrooke, between her patrols.

But on Wednesday evening, long after David had left for the day, and while Emma was distracting herself by uploading police reports from their storage archives to the computer system, the phone in the station began to ring. The Sheriff jumped a little in her seat at the sound of it. She was so unused to hearing someone call at that time of the morning, that it took her a moment to compose herself, before she answered the phone.

"Storybrooke Sheriff's Department. Sheriff Swan speaking."

"There's some strange noises coming from the forest, close to the town line," the caller replied, as Emma furrowed her brow in concern.

"Can you be more specific?" she asked, while she pulled the logbook they kept towards herself, to make a note of the call.

"I think someone might be hurt."

"You _think_ someone might be hurt, or you can _see_ someone is hurt?" Emma's mind was racing as she began gathering up everything she would need to go and investigate the call.

She knew absolutely everyone in town, and the voice on the other end of the line didn't sound familiar to her at all. Which meant that whoever was in trouble was probably unfamiliar with Storybrooke, and the forests that surrounded the outskirts of the town.

Either that, or the local teenagers were attempting to pull some kind of elaborate prank on her. And if that were the case, Emma made a promise to herself that she would make them suffer when she found out who was behind it all.

"Just hurry," the person replied, before disconnecting the call.

The Sheriff sighed to herself as she finished making a note of what the guy had said in their logbook, before she grabbed her keys from her desk, and her jacket from the small coat stand by the door.

* * *

Emma frowned as she pulled the cruiser over to the side of the road and killed the engine. There were no cars parked on either side of it, nor were there any obvious signs of disruption around her. But she knew that the kids liked to play in the forest in that part of town, as it was often deserted. So as she climbed down from the vehicle, Emma pulled out her flashlight and clicked it on.

"Hello?" she called out softly, shining the beam around all of the usual places that she had caught people hiding in before. "Storybrooke Sheriff's Department. Is there anyone here?"

The only sounds she could hear were those of the animals and insects in the forest, going about their business as usual. There wasn't even the usual sound of the traffic in town to drown them out.

Emma had just turned to head back to the cruiser when she heard a loud crack from somewhere to her left.

Her hand flew to the gun at her side, unclipping the holster just to be safe.

"Hello?" she called out again, shining the beam of her flashlight in the direction she was sure she'd heard the noise originate from.

Emma really didn't want to have to go into the forest that late at night. But she also knew that there was no real way around it. Someone could be hurt in there, and they'd be relying on her to help save them.

As she edged closer to the complete darkness provided by the trees, she pulled out her gun, raising it to hold along with her flashlight, as Graham had shown her all those years ago.

There was no way she was going in to that part of town unarmed.

Although it was rare, black bears had been spotted hunting in the forests close to Storybrooke before. And while Emma knew that a gun would do little damage to a fully-grown adult bear, it might be enough to buy her some time to escape, should she need it.

"Hello?" she asked softly, as she walked a little further in, swinging the beam of light around her as she went.

With every step she took, Emma felt more and more uneasy about the situation.

Every instinct inside of her was screaming that something was wrong.

She was just about to turn back and head for her cruiser once more, when a voice called out softly, "Sheriff Swan?"

"Yes?" she asked, spinning the beam of light around in the direction the voice had come from.

But there was nobody there.

"We've been asked to pass along a message," another voice added, from somewhere behind her.

Emma turned again, her heart racing as she did. She kept a firm grip on her weapon as she swung the flashlight round, trying to find the source of each of the voices.

But all she could see was complete darkness, outside of the small beam of light.

* * *

At three-eighteen _am_ there wasn't a soul awake in the small town of Storybrooke, Maine. All of its residents were tucked up in bed, sleeping soundly throughout the night, and dreaming of what the morning would bring.

Only the animals were awake to hear as the first gunshot rang out in the forest by the town line.

It was quickly followed by two more.

* * *

 **I'm so sorry! Please don't hate me. Chapter 34 will post exactly 1 week from today.**

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	34. Chapter 34

**I'm told I need to add a tissue warning here. So this is me doing that.**

* * *

David made his way through the station, flicking on lights as he went. Even with all of the windows it had, for some reason, the place always felt too dark without the fluorescent overhead lights on.

He stopped briefly on his way over to his desk to turn on the new state-of-the-art coffee machine. After checking over the filters and beans, he headed for the bullpen to wait for the beep that would tell him the machine was ready to go.

Emma's office was dark and empty, which wasn't unusual. With her taking the night-shift, he wasn't expecting to see his sheriff until the middle of the day. So as he prepared his first mug of coffee, David took a quick look through the call logbook, just to check on how busy Emma's evening had been.

It didn't take long for his gaze to drop down to the last logged call, that came in a little before three _am._ Emma had recorded a disturbance by the town line, with the caller stating that there was a possibility that someone had being injured. She had made a hastily scribbled note that she was heading out to investigate it.

But she hadn't recorded a resolution to that call.

David assumed that she'd probably headed straight home to get some sleep after making her investigations, but he sent her a quick message just to be sure, before going about his usual daily routine.

* * *

Killian sighed as he kicked off his shoes at the door, and stumbled his way through his apartment. The night shoot he'd just finished had been long and gruelling, with him spending a good few hours in a harness, suspended from a crane.

The only good thing about it had been Emma's call when they had broken for dinner. She'd been pulling her own night-shift at the station, and was a little bored when she'd gotten his message that he was finally free to talk.

Nothing failed to raise his spirits like speaking with his beautiful girlfriend. The two of them had been busy making plans for Emma's trip to Vancouver when he'd been called back to set, and they'd been forced to say goodbye once more.

Even over the phone, it was proving harder and harder to let her go with every day that passed.

When he eventually dropped down onto his bed fully-clothed, Killian pulled out his phone to send Emma one last message before sleep claimed him. He knew that his girlfriend would probably be sleeping off her own exhausting shift at that point in time, but he wanted her to wake to the beautifully loving kind of messages that she always made sure he woke to.

 **Finally home and exhausted, so I'm off to dream about you before I need to be back in the studio.**

 **I miss you, Sweetheart.**

 **I can't wait to hold you in my arms once more.**

 **I hope you're having your own sweet dreams.**

 **I love you. X**

* * *

When middaycame and went without any signs of Emma, David began to worry a little. She hadn't returned any of his messages that morning, and it was unlike her to sleep late. He had tried calling her cell phone, but he was being sent straight to voicemail, which suggested that she had either turned off the device, or the battery had died. So David decided to head over to Granny's, to see if Ruby knew where their friend was.

"Hey, David," she called out easily, as he pushed his way through the door. Everything seemed perfectly normal inside the small diner. All of the regulars were sat in their preferred places, at their usual time of the day, sipping on coffee or enjoying a slice of Granny's legendary cheery pie.

"Usual?" Ruby asked.

"Um, not today," he replied softly, making his way over to the counter. This was definitely not a conversation he needed Leroy shouting around town. They all knew Gold had been searching for an excuse to relieve Emma of her position since she'd dumped Neal. And David didn't want to be the one to give him fuel for that fire.

"Ruby?" He beckoned her closer, and the waitress stood the small coffee pot down to make her way over to where he was stood, out of earshot of any of the other customers. "Have you seen Emma today?"

"No," she replied carefully. "I thought she was with you?"

"She was supposed to be in at midday, but I haven't seen her. And she's not answering any of my calls or messages. She's not…" He hesitated for a moment, hating himself for the accusation he was about to make. Because deep down, David already knew the answer to his next question. "She's not with her boyfriend, is she?"

"Killian? No, he's working. She's not going up to visit him for a few weeks yet." Ruby's face was starting to fall with her own concern. David wanted to tell his friend to forget about it, and that he was sure everything would be fine.

But in his gut, he knew that something was very wrong.

"Can I borrow your keys?" he asked quietly. "I just wanna check inside the apartment. Maybe she's overslept."

Ruby had already turned to head for her bag in the back room, before he'd finished speaking. She wanted answers just as much as he did.

"Call me no matter what happens?" she begged, as she placed her keys into his palm.

"I will do."

* * *

"Emma?" David called out, as he pushed open the front door to her apartment. It felt strange being inside of his friend's home, without her there to welcome him.

He made his way carefully through the space, checking things over for anything that might have been out of place, or that would suggest that Emma was in trouble. There was nothing obvious jumping out at him. All of the furniture was exactly where it had always been. There was nothing broken, and there were no signs of blood on the floor, to suggest that there had been a struggle.

Everything looked painfully normal.

After making his way through the lounge, he paused just at the start of the dark hallway that would lead down to the bedrooms and remaining bathroom. While he and Emma had been friends for as long as David could remember, he'd never been inside of her bedroom before. And while he knew that he'd need to check inside of it to see if his friend was there, and more importantly - if her bed had been slept in, it felt like a huge violation of her privacy to do so.

As he made his way down the hall, the first thing that caught his attention were the pictures hanging along the wall. There were a couple of shots of Ruby up there, but the majority seemed to be professional pictures that Emma had taken with her boyfriend. David had to do a double take when he realized that in a couple of the images, the guy was wearing handcuffs.

 _What kind of kinky photographer was Emma using?_

But all thoughts of photography fled his mind the moment he pushed open the door to his friend's bedroom.

It was a much brighter space than he had expected it to be. The walls were painted a light cream colour, with lots of artwork decorating them. Emma's bed had been dressed in plush red bedding, and was still perfectly made up.

David's heart sank at the sight of it.

Emma hadn't been home last night.

He briefly checked inside of her closet, and on the nightstand. All of her clothes were still hanging up, so she hadn't taken off somewhere in the middle of the night. And wherever she was, she appeared to have taken her keys and her phone with her.

David briefly checked through her nightstand, noticing that her badge was also gone, and he assumed that her gun would be too, (but like the responsible adult that she was, Emma had always kept her weapon locked away, and he didn't know the code to her safe). There was another picture of her in her boyfriend's arms on the nightstand, the two of them looking more relaxed together at what appeared to be Marco's place.

David couldn't stop himself from picking it up to examine it closer. While he had seen Emma smile before, he'd never seen the kind of pure happiness shining from behind her eyes, as the picture in his hands had managed to capture.

But there were no other clues as to where Emma could be.

David pulled out his phone with a sigh, bringing up Ruby's number and hitting call, as he sat the framed image back in its place. His friend had clearly been expecting him, as she answered before the third ring.

"Well?" she demanded.

"Her clothes are still here, but her badge and keys seem to be gone. And her bed wasn't slept in last night."

"Fuck," Ruby cursed. "What do we do?"

"I'm gonna head out to the town line and see if there are any clues there as to what that call was about last night," David told her.

"I'm coming with you," Ruby offered.

"No. Stay where you are. I'll call if I find anything."

"She could be lost in those woods," Ruby protested fiercely. "You're gonna need help to search them."

" _If_ she's out there, then I will gladly accept all of the help I can get. But until then, we need to keep this quiet. I'm not letting Gold twist this into something he can use to push Emma out."

David could tell that Ruby wanted to protest. That like him, she was worried about her friend and she wanted to do all that she could to help find her. But the thought of protecting Emma's reputation from Gold was holding her back.

"I promise you, I'll call as soon as I have an update," David assured her.

"You'd better, David Nolan. Or I'll drive myself out there and kick your ass myself."

* * *

When Killian woke again, he felt like no time at all had passed since he'd fallen asleep. While he wanted nothing more than to rollover and bury his head in the pillows, his stomach had other ideas, as it loudly made its demands known.

He heaved himself up to a sitting position and swung his legs over the side of the bed, before reaching for his phone. Emma should already be back at work, which meant there should be a message waiting for him on the small device.

But when he woke the screen, he was a little shocked to find only a message from his mother there.

All thoughts of food were forgotten as Killian unlocked the device and quickly scrolled to his message chain with Emma, just to see if he'd accidentally read her reply in his sleep. But his last message from that morning was still at the bottom, marked as unread.

His brow furrowed in concern as he quickly pulled up her number and hit dial, only to be greeted by the robotic tone of her voicemail client.

Something didn't feel right, and Killian didn't like it.

He hoped like hell that her phone had simply died, and she'd been too busy to charge it.

Or maybe it had broken?

But he still found himself tapping out messages to send to her via text, Messenger, and to post to her Facebook wall.

 **I miss you.**

 **I love you.**

 **Call me!**

* * *

The moment David spotted the cruiser parked on the side of the road, his heart sank.

There were only two reasons he could think of for why Emma would have abandoned her car that way. If there was something wrong with it, or if there was something wrong with her.

He prayed to every God he knew of that it was the car that had the problems, and not his friend.

"Emma?" he called out softly, as he parked his truck behind the abandoned cruiser, and climbed out of the cab. "Ems? Are you here?"

He wasn't a tracker in any sense of the word, but David knew Emma well enough to know that if she'd had to venture into the forest, she'd have stuck close to the road. The moment the road was no longer visible was the moment the darkness closed in, and Emma would never have gone much further than that, without some kind of backup.

He pulled out his flashlight and clicked it on, before withdrawing his weapon. David wasn't sure what he would find in the darkness of the woods, but he was determined to be prepared for it.

"Emma?" he called out again, walking the edge of the forest as he did. When he got no reply he headed in deeper, calling out for his sheriff once more.

David paced the length of the forest a mile away from the town line, heading in that little bit deeper with each pass he made, and calling out for Emma that little bit louder. When he could no longer see the road behind him, he pulled out his phone to call for backup, and cursed when he realised that he didn't have a signal.

He was just about to turn around and head back to his truck, when his flashlight fell on something that looked decidedly out of place on the forest floor.

"Emma?"

David pocketed his phone and holstered his gun, running a little to the spot his beam had illuminated only seconds before.

"Oh God."

The flashlight clattered to the floor as he took in the scene in front of him. For a moment, he was completely frozen, his eyes not quite believing what he was seeing.

 _There was so much blood._

But it didn't take long for his brain to kick in to action.

David dropped to his knees beside Emma, brushing her hair away from her neck, where it had been matted with her blood, to check for a pulse.

"Come on, come on, come on," he chanted, gently sliding his fingers around in the hopes of feeling _something._

The soft flutter was slow and barely noticeable, but it was there.

"Oh thank god," he cried, relief washing over him at the feel of it.

David pulled off his jacket and wrapped it tightly around Emma's slim frame, hoping that the added warmth would help comfort her in some way, as he pulled his phone from his pocket to attempt to dial nine-one-one.

When the call wouldn't connect he swore again. He hadn't realised he'd been crying until he had to brush the tears away to see clearly. He didn't want to leave Emma alone now that he'd found her, but he knew that he couldn't risk moving her just yet either.

"I'll be right back," he promised, bending forward to brush a kiss to her forehead, before he took off running for the road. He kept his phone in hand, waving it around in front of himself until one small bar lit up on the side of his display.

David was already speaking loudly and clearly by the time the call had connected. "This is Deputy David Nolan with the Storybrooke Sheriff's Department. I need an ambulance sent to the town line immediately. The sheriff is down and bleeding heavily. She's in the forest. Tell them to park behind my truck and head straight in. I'll be with her, so if they call out, I'll be able to guide them to our location." He disconnected the call without waiting to see what else was said, turning on his heels to run back to where Emma was laying.

She was still on the ground, in a pool of blood that was far too large for someone as small as Emma was, lying deathly still.

"Okay," he mumbled, more to reassure himself than her. David gently pulled up the sweater Emma was wearing to see if he could spot the entrance point for the wound. There was so much blood, and without his flashlight he was struggling to see clearly. But when his fingers lightly danced over a particularly wet part of her body, he decided to take a chance. He ripped off the plaid button-down he was wearing and balled it up to press down firmly over the area, in the hopes that it would help slow the bleeding.

She'd already been out there alone for far too long.

"You can't die on me, okay?" he whispered harshly. "You just can't."

David wasn't sure how long he sat on the cold and damp forest floor, cradling Emma's head in his lap as he pressed against the wound on her stomach. But it felt like an eternity to him.

"David? David, are you here?"

"Over here," he called back, his voice scratchy from the tears that had fallen, and the fear that was wrapped tightly around his throat like a noose. "We're over here."

The beams from the flashlights were dazzling in the darkness of the forest, and he had to blink a few times to get rid of the bright spots that were dancing behind his eyes. But when he did, they immediately fell down to Emma, and the grizzly scene that surrounded them.

In the harsh fluorescent light, everything looked worse.

And Emma looked deathly pale.

"Shit," came a familiar voice. David lifted his head to see Victor Whale staring down at the two of them. For a moment, the usually calm and composed doctor looked scared. But he shook his fear off quickly, slipping easily into that commanding persona he exuded inside of the hospital.

"Okay. I need you to head back to the van and bring me back some fluids and the trolley. We need to get her out of here and back to the hospital as soon as possible," he barked at two paramedics that David didn't know by name. "Keep those lights focused down here so I can see what I'm doing?" he told two more people, as he dropped to his knees besides Emma's body.

Whale made quick work of cutting away Emma's sweater and cleaning down her torso, in his hunt for the wound that was still steadily bleeding onto the ground around him.

What he found made them both recoil in horror.

The wound that David had covered was still bleeding heavily, but there was a second close to Emma's left hip that was also adding to the pool of red on the floor beneath them, with a third over her right shoulder.

"Jesus Christ. How is she still alive?" David gasped out.

"The human body is a remarkable creation," Whale murmured, already packing the hole that had been left in her abdomen, in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "But if we don't get her out of here soon, she's gonna be in trouble. There's every chance infection has already set in." Even as he spoke, another of the paramedics he had brought with him was moving over to David's side, pulling on a pair of latex gloves to begin packing the wound in Emma's shoulder, as a third set to work doing the same on her hip.

"Fuck. What can I do?"

"Nothing yet," Whale told him, bending a little closer to listen to Emma's breathing. "I don't like how that sounds," he declared to the people around him, already pulling off his bloody gloves.

"What?" David asked. "What do you mean?"

"I'm gonna intubate her to help get oxygen into her lungs. Her breathing is far too shallow for my liking," the doctor explained, already sliding his hands into a fresh pair of gloves, as one of the paramedics riffled through their bag to pull out everything that he would need.

"Shouldn't this be done in a hospital?"

"I'm trying to save her life," Whale barked back. "Shut up and let me do my job."

David nodded his understanding as he watched in horror while a rather severe looking metal instrument was placed into his friend's mouth, to hold her tongue down. Whale began carefully feeding a tube down her throat, as the paramedics around them made sure to offer him the best lighting they possibly could.

The sound of metal rattling its way through the trees caught their attention, and they both turned to watch as the other paramedics returned with more supplies, and a trolley to transport Emma back to the van on.

"Okay, onto the spinal board as carefully as we can, then up," Whale instructed forcefully, as he watched his team manoeuvre themselves into a practiced position. "You might want to step back and give us some room," he told David firmly.

"Yeah… um… yeah." David nodded his head as he took two large steps back, giving the professionals the space they needed to work, whilst still keeping himself close to Emma.

With an ease that only came from experience, he watched as Whale gently rolled Emma onto her side, while the others slid the rigid red board under her. When it was in place, Whale gently eased her back onto it, and immediately began strapping her down. The medical team made sure that she was fully secure, before taking their next positions.

"Okay. On my count," the doctor instructed clearly. "One, two, three."

As one, the five men carefully lifted the board onto the trolley that was stood just to one side.

"I'm putting this line in first, and then we're moving," Whale declared, as he bent back over Emma's body with a needle already in hand. "Jason, I need you to call back and tell them to prep an OR for me. We'll also need blood, and lots of it. Make sure the best of the best are scrubbed in and ready for me by the time we get back."

Jason took off running the moment his boss had finished speaking, as the others carefully gathered up their supplies, and took a corner of the trolley. Before he let them move, Whale gently fixed what looked like a large blue balloon to the end of the tube now hanging from Emma's mouth. One of the EMTs reached for it as soon as he'd finished, and began squeezing it rhythmically to help with Emma's breathing.

"We move slowly," Whale told everyone gathered, offering the guy at the front the bag of fluids he had just hooked up to Emma's arm. "If there's something large in the way, we pick the trolley up and move her over it, so as not to jolt anything. I didn't see any exit wounds so those bullets are still inside of her. We can't risk knocking one of them when we don't know where they are. Got it?"

The others murmured their agreement as they slowly made their way back through the forest, headed towards the harsh light of the day. David followed close behind them, not wanting to take his eyes off Emma just in case something happened when he did.

It seemed to take an eternity to break through from the trees, but when they did, he heaved a sigh of relief as the paramedics set to work loading her into the ambulance. Her small body was hooked up to more tubes and wires, as medication was pumped into her system.

David had to swallow back the bile rising in his throat at the sight of it all.

"Are you coming with us?" Whale asked, hopping in beside Emma. The doctor began checking everything over himself, as the rest of the team quickly loaded themselves back into their own emergency response vehicles, before taking off for the hospital.

"Yeah," David stated, climbing up to sit in the only seat left in the van, as Jason shut the door firmly behind him.

* * *

David had never seen the hospital as busy as it was when they arrived. Whale had prepped everyone well, and he disappeared quickly to scrub in for surgery, while Emma was whisked away behind a set of double doors that security wouldn't let him follow her through.

One of the nurses - he thought her name was Janice, but he couldn't be certain in that moment - handed him a clean pair of scrubs, and gently guided him over to a bathroom where he could shower and change.

He hadn't realised until that moment how he looked.

David's jeans were a dark red in colour from all of the blood they had absorbed. His hands, arms and face were streaked with it, and his t-shirt was completely ruined.

He was covered in the blood of his friend, and it was that realization that had him emptying the contents of his stomach into the nearest toilet.

When he'd finished vomiting, he finally stripped himself down and pushed his clothes aside to bag for evidence, before stepping into the small shower stall to scrub the blood from his body. As the water sluiced down over him, David allow himself a moment to cry.

He knew that the instant he stepped out of that room he'd need to call his wife and Ruby, to explain what had happened to them. And he also knew that they would need him to be strong, while so much was still uncertain.

When he eventually stepped back out of the small stall, it was with the resolve to hold himself together, no matter what happened in the next few hours.

A part of him knew that this was news he should be delivering in person. But David didn't want to leave the hospital. Even though he couldn't be by her side in that moment, he didn't want Emma to be alone anymore. She'd been out there in the cold and dark on her own for long enough.

So instead, he took a seat in the small, empty waiting room to place two of the most difficult calls of his entire life.

"Hey Honey," Mary-Margret greeted. "How's work going?"

"Are you alone?" her husband asked carefully. It would be better for her to hear the news with someone else close by, but he couldn't risk word getting out about Emma's condition just yet.

"Yeah. Unless you count Leo. We just got back from the Mommy and Me class."

David took a deep breath in and held it, as he scrubbed a harsh hand over his face to dry his tears. He'd promised himself that he would be strong for his wife and Ruby. But that promise was proving difficult to keep.

"There's been an incident," he began carefully, hating the way his voice cracked on that last word. "Emma's um… she's been shot."

Mary-Margret's gasp of horror shattered his soul. David hated being the one to break this news to her. He should have been the one sat by her side, holding her hand as they heard it together.

"You um.. you should come to the hospital. She's in the OR now, but it's not looking good, Honey. There was so much blood."

David had to bite his own lip to stop himself from crying, as he heard his wife's sobs clearly across the line. He didn't know what to say to offer her comfort. He couldn't promise her that everything would be okay, because he wasn't sure it would be.

"I'll um, I'll sort Leo out and we'll be right there," she assured him.

"I'm in the waiting room. I didn't want to leave her," he offered softly.

"No. Don't. Don't leave her," Mary-Margret agreed forcefully. "She shouldn't be alone right now. I'll be there as soon as I can. I love you, David."

"I love you too."

When he ended the call, David clutched the phone tightly to his chest as he allowed his tears to fall silently.

"Deputy Nolan?" a soft voice called out, pushing into the room. David turned to face the nurse who was making her way in, brushing away his tears as he did. "I brought you some coffee," she offered softly. "I know it's not much, but I thought it might help a little."

"Thank you." Her small, kind offer in that moment meant more to David than he would ever be able to explain. The nurse left him with a gentle squeeze to his shoulder and a kind smile, as she made her way back out of the room to give him some privacy.

David wanted nothing more than to take his time drinking the hot beverage, before he placed his call to Ruby. But he knew that it wouldn't take long for word to spread of what had happened. And Emma's best friend deserved to hear it from him, not from Leroy over coffee.

"David?" she answered immediately, not even allowing the first full ring to complete. "Tell me you found her."

"I did," he began slowly. "Ruby she's um… she's been shot," he continued, cringing at the way her breath hitched at the word. "You should get to the hospital. It's um… it's not looking good."

"We're on our way," was all Ruby said before she disconnected the call, leaving David alone to wait for the people he loved the most.

* * *

Mary-Margret was the first to arrive, pulling her husband into her arms the moment she did, as she sobbed into his chest. Neither one of them knew what to say, so they simply held each other tightly, seeking comfort from the one person they knew could offer best it in that instant.

Ruby and her grandmother arrived a little after, both looking incredibly flustered as they rushed into the room.

"David," she sobbed, falling into her friend's arms to cry a little more. David had never seen the brunette looked so awful before. Her makeup had been ruined by her tears, and her hair was in complete disarray, likely from the way she'd been worrying it all afternoon.

"How bad is it?" she asked when she finally pulled back. Granny had a fresh handkerchief waiting for Ruby to dry her eyes with, but her own looked red and misty behind the lenses of her glasses.

"Bad," he admitted reluctantly. He didn't want to worry his friends, but he couldn't lie to them either. "She's um… there were three entrance wounds." The other women in the room couldn't hold in their cries of shock at that detail.

One was a possible accident.

Three was a deliberate attempt to kill.

"Whale packed and dressed the wounds on the scene, but she's lost a lot of blood. There was so much of it everywhere." David closed his eyes as the images of his friend's body, laying cold and still on the ground, flashed behind them. "He's worried about possible infection. And um… he said there aren't any exit wounds, which could cause problems. That's about all I know, though. He had her rushed straight down to an OR as soon as they arrived."

"That's good," Granny offered seriously. "Whale is the best at what he does. He'll fight for her. He won't give up on her."

The others nodded their agreement as they took their seats in the small room, settling in for however long it would take for them to get some answers.

* * *

The silence of the room was shattered an hour later when someone else pushed their way into it.

"What the hell are you doing here?" David yelled, rising from his chair to face the newcomer.

"I'm Emma's emergency contact. They called and said she'd been involved in an incident."

"You're not welcome here," he continued.

"Really, Deputy Nolan? Because the last time I checked, _my_ _son_ was your Sheriff's emergency contact, which means he has more right to be here than any of you do," Gold stated smugly, as he pushed past Neal to take a seat along the opposite wall of the room.

"Shit!" Ruby's sudden declaration broke the tense showdown happening between the two men, as all eyes swung round to face her. "David, I need Emma's phone."

"It's um… the nurses have bagged it for evidence," he told her, shaking his head to clear it of the red haze that had descended at the sight of Neal.

"I _need_ it."

"I can't break that seal," David explained softly. "It's evidence in what's looking like a case of attempted murder."

"Someone's missing from this room," Ruby explained. "Someone who has more right to be here than _any_ of us. I _have_ to call him. He shouldn't find this out through watching the news, or on Facebook. He deserves better than that."

"Call who?" Mary-Margret whispered, looking incredibly confused by the whole situation.

And then it clicked in David's mind.

All of those pictures he'd seen in Emma's home. The pictures of her smiling so easily and so widely in the arms of one man. The person she had been so excited to visit earlier that month.

"Her boyfriend," he sighed, dropping down into his seat. "Don't you have his number?"

"No. And he's probably not gonna answer a call from an unknown number. David please, I know you shouldn't, but he _needs_ to be here for this."

David nodded his agreement before pushing himself back to his feet to try and track down one of the nurses who would be able to give him Emma's belongings.

* * *

"I'm sorry," Killian apologised, dropping his accent and breaking character, as he fished his phone from his pocket. He'd been waiting all day to hear from Emma, and when she hadn't made contact before he was called to set, he'd smuggled his phone into his costume to keep a close eye on it.

Now that the device was finally ringing, he didn't want to ignore it.

"Emma, Love? What's going on?" he asked, as he stepped away from his mark to try and grab as much privacy as he could, given the number of people in the studio that afternoon.

"Kil… Killian. It's Ruby." The stutter to her voice sent a chill through his body, as Killian asked, "Ruby? Where's Emma?"

"There um… there's been an incident," she croaked out. "How soon can you get to Storybrooke?"

"What kind of incident?"

"You shouldn't hear this over the phone," she replied softly. "Just please, get here as soon as you can."

"Tell me what the fuck is going on," he demanded, his voice sounding deadly with the calm that had settled over it. From the corner of his eye he noticed as everyone else on set stopped their own conversations, and dropped whatever it was they were doing to turn his way.

"She's um… she…" Killian could hear Ruby suck in a harsh breath as she snuffled a little, and his heart lurched. "She was responding to a disturbance call near the town line." There was a heavy pause, and before he could demand more answers, Ruby added, "She didn't come back. David saw the call logged this morning, but no resolution for it. So… he went to check it out." When Ruby paused once more, Killian wanted to yell at her to just spit it out already. His stomach was beginning to churn with the acid that was building inside of it. "He found her. She'd um… she'd…" Ruby's sniffles were coming harder and faster now. Killian could hear the tears that were behind each word she was forcing out, and he hated himself a little for putting her through that. "She's been shot, Killian."

"Oh God."

"She's um… she's in surgery right now. But it's not good. You should be here. You _need_ to be here."

"I'm coming," he promised, ending the call immediately to empty the contents of his stomach into the empty barrel to his left.

"Killian?" Robin asked carefully, approaching his friend like he would a frightened animal. "What's going on?"

"I need to leave," he stated emotionlessly, as he ripped off his hook and coat. "I have to go."

He took off running for his trailer before anyone could say anything else.

* * *

Killian wasn't sure how he made it to the airport that afternoon, or onto his flight.

All he could hear were Ruby's words, ringing in his ears.

 _She's been shot._

 _It's not good._

 _You should be here._

 _You_ need _to be here._

 _Shot._

 _Not good._

 _You_ need _to be here._

 _You_ need _to be here._

He didn't trust himself to rent a car when his plane touched down in Boston. And he knew nobody would ever lease one to him in his current state. His eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and his hair was a riotous mess. He wasn't even sure if he was wearing matching shoes. So instead, he called for a taxi.

The driver didn't seem too happy about the four-hour journey to a town he'd never heard of before. But the fistful of hundred dollar bills Killian threw at him soon changed his mind.

By the time the car pulled up outside of Storybrooke General, seven hours had passed since Ruby's call, and Killian's stomach was churning once more. He'd been lucky enough to find a seat on one of the fastest direct flights to the state. But the taxi driver hadn't taken too kindly to being asked to drive faster all the way to town.

"Where's Sheriff Swan?" he asked a rather harried looking nurse at the front desk.

"I'm sorry sir, I can't give that information out," she replied, with what he imagined was supposed to be a sympathetic smile.

All it did was enrage him.

"Where's Emma Swan?" he asked again, that deadly calm seeping back into his tone.

"I can only give information on patients and their current conditions to next of kin and direct family members," she explained, giving him that fucking smile once more.

"Emma doesn't _have_ any direct family," he shot back, bringing his fist down heavily on the desk. "Anyone who knows her, knows that. I'm the closest she's got. Tell me where she is."

His voice had risen with each word he'd spat her way, and he could see the nurse eyeing the distracted security guard in the corner of the building. The last thing he needed was to be kicked out of the hospital before he could even get to Emma, but he would never find her without any help.

"Look, she's my fiancée," he lied, fishing his phone out of his pocket to show her the picture that he'd set as his lock screen. It was one of himself and Emma, laughing for the camera during their pirate tour of Lake Michigan, taken only a few weeks before. " _Please_. Ruby told me what happened to her. I just wanna see her."

The nurse cracked, either at the photographic proof he was providing of their close relationship, or at the look of absolute desperation on his face. "She's still in surgery," she told him softly. "Come with me and I'll take you to the waiting room."

"Thank you. Thank you so much."

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

 **Special thanks go to Luna, Alexa, halfkender and the other guests.**

 **See you next Sunday.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Firstly, I am in no way a medical expert. What I have written here is based on hours of extensive research, but I'm happy to be corrected if any of it is wrong.**

 **WARNING - This chapter does deal with the loss of a child, and the emotional fallout of that. If this is something you're not comfortable reading but you still wish to read the chapter, I've marked where each mention begins and ends with this CSCSCSCSCS There are 2 sections in total that deal with this aspect of the story. If you wish to skip over this update completely I would fully understand that. Please make your choices based on what is best for you personally.**

* * *

When Ruby pushed her way back into the waiting room all eyes inside of it swung round to face her, before everyone went back to staring at the walls and floor as they had been doing before. The wait with no information was the worst kind of torture imaginable, and while they had each tried telling themselves that no news was good news, they all knew that the longer Emma was in surgery for, the more serious her injuries must have been.

"Did you manage to get hold of him?" David whispered softly, not wanting to disturb the others who each seemed lost in their own thoughts.

"Yeah. He's gonna catch the next flight over."

David nodded to show that he'd heard what she had said, but he didn't say anything else.

* * *

About an hour later the door to the small room opened once more, and everyone turned again towards the entrance, hoping for some answers. But instead of seeing a medical professional in the entrance, Leroy; Archie and Mr. Clarke filed into the room, taking seats opposite the ones Granny; Ruby and the Nolans had been occupying.

"What are you guys doing here?" Ruby wondered.

"We heard about the Sheriff," Archie explained. "Has there been any news?"

"Not yet."

Leroy cast his eyes around the space, narrowing them slightly when they landed on Neal and his father, sat in the far corner of the room.

"What's he doing here?" he demanded loudly.

"I'm Emma's emergency contact," Neal spat back. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"I care about the Sheriff. I'd say that gives me more right to be here than you have."

Neal rose quickly from his seat, his father's hand coming up to rest gently on his forearm as a silent warning, while David moved to stand a little closer to Leroy. The last thing they needed that afternoon was for the two men to start a fight which could result in hospital security throwing them all out, before they got any answers.

"Is this really necessary?" Archie asked with a sigh. "We all care or we wouldn't be here. We should be focusing on what's important right now, and that's _Emma_. Not whatever petty differences we may have."

"As long as he stays over there, we've got no problems," Leroy told Archie, keeping his eyes locked on Gold and his son as he spoke.

Neal glared back for the longest moment before finally sitting back down beside his father, and David quickly followed suit.

* * *

Another ninety minutes had passed before the nurse that had brought David his first cup of coffee made her way into the room, this time dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, instead of her scrubs. She was balancing a tray loaded with cheap, plastic cups full of steaming beverages in her arms, and Archie sprung up from his seat to help her with the door.

"I thought you guys could use this," she explained, as she passed them round the room. "Sorry it's not as good as Granny's."

"Thanks, Janet," Archie whispered, and David filed her name away for future use. "Has there been any news?"

"No, sorry," she replied sadly, as she made her way over to the two men in the corner of the room. Neal took one of the remaining drinks from her with a slight nod of appreciation, but Gold was the only person to decline her offer, wrinkling his nose up at the smell of the cheap coffee. It didn't seem to faze Janet, though.

"The last I heard, she was just entering surgery."

" _Just_?" David asked incredulously, "I thought she was going straight there."

Janet took one of the free seats in the room and the last remaining cup of coffee, as she stood the tray down on another chair. She looked like she'd rather be at home, spending time with her family, instead of breaking the news she had to the people who loved the Sheriff the most. But she also knew how difficult it could be for the people who often sat in that room. Knowing nothing was usually far worse than the truth could ever be.

"Emma crashed not long after she arrived here, I'm afraid. The trauma team had to work hard to resuscitate and stabilize her, before they could even think of getting her scanned and x-rayed to see just how much damage had been done. Doctor Whale wanted to give her body some time to recover from the trauma of that incident, before he was forced into the OR. Surgery puts a great deal of stress on a person's body, no matter how small it is."

Mary-Margret and Ruby's tears had started once more at the news of just how close they'd come to losing their friend, and David had to bite down hard on his lip to stop his own from falling. After what he'd seen in the forest, he had known that things were bad. But hearing that there had been a moment where Emma's heart had stopped beating filled him with dread.

Things were far worse than even he had imagined.

"I'm sorry I don't have any better news for you," Janet continued. "Doctor Whale has asked for complete silence down in the OR, so that he can offer the Sheriff his full and undivided attention. I'm sure that when he has some news for you, he'll be up to deliver it in person."

"Thank you, Janet." Archie reached over to squeeze her hand softly, before the nurse rose slowly to her feet.

"I need to get back home to my girls," she told them. "But I'll be back here later tonight for my next shift, so I'll be sure to keep you guys up to date where I can."

The small group of people in the room nodded their thanks her way, before Janet took her leave. Mary-Margret lasted just long enough for the door to click shut behind her, before she crumpled into her husband's arms to sob softly again.

* * *

"I thought you said you'd called this new boyfriend of hers," Neal sneered, from the other end of the room. His voice broke through the whispered conversations that he and his father had been excluded from, eliciting silence once more.

"I did," was all Ruby said in reply.

She _really_ didn't want to get into things with him right then. She knew that Killian would have caught the first flight out to Boston, and if he'd taken the one she had found online, he would have touched down a little over an hour ago. But she also knew he still had a four hour drive ahead of him to get to Storybrooke.

And she couldn't even begin to imagine what the guy was going through in that moment.

While they'd had absolutely no updates on Emma's condition since Janet had left, being as close to her as they could possibly get was reassuring. She felt like she was where she needed to be, and was doing all she could to support her friend as she fought this battle to survive.

Ruby knew Killian well enough to know that he wouldn't feel like he was where he needed to be, until he saw Emma for himself. And until he got to the hospital, she was pretty sure he'd be beating himself up for being so far away from the woman he loved, when she needed him most.

"Some boyfriend," Neal scoffed. "What's he doing that's so important it takes him over four hours to get the hospital where his girlfriend's lying on an operating table?"

"Flying," Ruby replied simply.

Mary-Margret tilted her head a little as her own curiosity piqued, and Ruby explained to her more gently, "He lives in Vancouver. He'll have been on the first flight to Boston. Trust me."

"How did they meet?" she asked quietly, hoping that the story would keep herself distracted from the worry of what Emma was currently going through.

Ruby could tell that the rest of the room were listening in, but she knew it wouldn't matter too much. If Mary-Margret recognised Killian when he arrived that evening they'd cross that bridge at the time. If she didn't, then they'd cross it at a later date, when their friend was out of surgery. Because Ruby had a feeling that Emma's move to Canada would be expedited when she was released from the hospital.

"They met in a hotel in Boston," she told her friends. "When we were there for the first Fairytales convention. I don't know all of the details, but I do know that they clicked fast. He could barely keep his eyes off her all weekend. They didn't make things official until we went to Vegas together, though."

"So this is the guy she cheated on me with?" Neal threw in, as he leaned forward in his seat to clasp his hands together between his legs.

"Emma never cheated on you," Ruby snapped back. "She told Killian she was engaged to you after _he_ kissed her. She wasn't out there putting it around the way you were."

"That doesn't make it any better. She shouldn't have put herself into a position to allow another man to kiss her, while she was still engaged to me."

"Oh, _please_ ," Ruby scoffed. "Why is it okay for you to fuck anything with a pair of tits, but not okay for her to kiss another man while she was engaged to you? Do you think Emma's proud of how things with Killian began? Because I can assure you that she's not. She can't control the fact that she fell in love with him anymore than you can't control the fact that you're a complete _asshole_ who doesn't deserve to breath the same air as she does."

Neal opened his mouth to reply, but either couldn't think of anything to say, or chose not to. Instead, he rose to his feet and stormed out of the room, muttering something about needing air, as his father followed him out.

* * *

Granny disappeared at dinner time and returned half an hour later, with food for everyone in the small room. She encouraged the people around her to eat, telling them that they would need their strength, if they wanted to continue supporting Emma. But even she found herself picking more at the bread on her sandwich than she actually ate.

Neal and his father returned not long after, taking their seats once more. They stubbornly ignored the rest of the room as they did so, preferring to sit in silence while they waited on news of Emma's condition.

As the evening turned to night, Ruby's patience was reaching its limits. Janet had stopped by when her shift began to say hello, but nobody else had been in to give them any updates. And she could tell that everyone else in the room was beginning to think the same things she was.

Emma was in more danger than any of them could ever hope to understand. Something must have gone drastically wrong for her to still be in the OR.

* * *

When the door to the small room finally opened again, everyone's eyes swung round to face the newcomer making their way through it, as they prayed that they would finally get some answers about their friend.

But it wasn't a doctor that was stood in the doorway.

"Killian," Ruby declared, pushing herself up to her feet to throw herself into his arms, as the door swung shut behind him. "Thank God you're here."

She couldn't explain why, but just having him in that room with the rest of Emma's friends made her feel better than she had been feeling all day.

Killian dropped the small rucksack he was carrying to the floor as his arms came up to wrap around her tighter than they ever had before, squeezing briefly before she pulled herself out of his embrace.

"How is she?" he asked, bringing a hand up to massage the bridge of his nose in the hope that it would help with the pounding headache that had formed the moment he had ended that call with Ruby all those hours before.

Ruby had never seen the guy look as awful as he did that night. His hair was a complete mess, likely from being worried constantly on his journey to Storybrooke. His eyeliner was smudged beneath his blood-shot eyes, and the shirt he was wearing was crumpled and creased. He'd clearly left work in a hurry, just as she had.

"We don't know," she replied softly. "Janet um… Janet told us earlier that she had crashed when she first arrived here, and had to be resuscitated before they could take her down for scans and x-rays. But nobody's told us anything since."

"Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck."

Killian slid his hand up to massage his forehead with the heel of his palm, before tugging violently at his hair. He'd thought he'd feel better being back in Storybrooke, and close to Emma. But knowing that it had been hours since Ruby's call, and that Emma's friends had learned very little about her condition during that time, wasn't reassuring him at all.

When he pulled his hand away his eyes darted around the room, taking in the faces that had gathered because of their shared love for Emma. Leroy nodded up at him with a small smile, and Granny offered him a slightly larger one. Killian recognised David and Mary-Margret from the pictures that had been on the deputy's desk at the Sheriff's station, but nobody else was familiar to him. That didn't stop his heart from warming at the sight of them all, though. Emma might not have had any biological family to speak of, but she was certainly surrounded by people who loved her.

"Um… Killian, this is David and Mary-Margret." Ruby pointed to the couple sat on their side of the room, before she turned her attention to the other small group sat opposite them. "I believe you already know Leroy, and this is Archie and Mr. Clarke. Archie is our local therapist, and Mr. Clarke runs the pharmacy in town."

"The high school ritual, right?" he asked, remembering Emma's account of how she'd been called out to deal with teenagers caught stealing from the pharmacy, when he'd last been in town.

"That's right," she chuckled. "I forgot you were here just after that." Her laughter died down instantly when Ruby remembered who was missing from the room, that had been present in that memory. Everyone else's expressions fell with hers, as their thoughts seemed to drift to the same place.

Killian turned back to face the others and noticed that Emma's deputy was on his feet, with a hand extended in his direction.

"David Nolan," he introduced. "I guess I have you to thank for the new coffee machine at the station?"

Killian found himself barking out a sharp laugh despite the circumstances at the guy's words. "Emma said that you were getting more use out of it than she was. I'll confess, I ordered that machine for purely selfish reasons. I was pretty sure the old one was gonna rot away the lining of my stomach, if I had to force down any more of that coffee. I'm glad it's getting plenty of use."

"It wasn't that bad," David defended lamely, as both his wife and Ruby shot him looks that clearly stated they didn't agree with him.

Killian took pity on the guy and took his offered hand, giving it a firm shake as he finally introduced himself. "Killian Jones."

Mary-Margret's gasp from behind her husband was overly-loud in the quietness of the small room, and she sprung up from her seat to get a better look at the newcomer to their group.

"Holy shit, you are," she pointed out, completely unnecessarily. "How?"

Killian's smile was bittersweet as she looked between himself and Ruby, searching for some kind of answer.

"I told you," Ruby deflected, "They met in a hotel in Boston."

There was a small noise from the other end of the room and Killian's eyes snapped up to see the two men sat together, clearly separate from the rest of Emma's friends.

"Is that who I think it is?" he whispered harshly to Ruby.

"Yeah. Emma must have forgotten to change her emergency contact details when she kicked him out."

Killian's eyes locked with Neal's for a moment. There was so much he wanted to say to the guy who had taken advantage of the woman he loved for so long. But he knew it was neither the time nor the place for that conversation to happen. It would have to wait until his girlfriend was back in his arms once more.

"Come and sit down," Ruby encouraged gently. "Before you fall down."

"I've been sitting for the last seven hours," Killian protested, but he still allowed Ruby to guide him over to a free chair beside her own, and pull him down into it.

"When was the last time you ate?" Granny asked from her other side, that motherly streak in her still present, even under the dire circumstances they'd found themselves in.

"Fuck if I know," he sighed, as he dropped his head back to the wall and squeezed his eyes shut. "I'm not hungry, though. Surely there has to be _someone_ we can ask for some information?"

"Janet said that Victor had asked for complete silence in the OR, so that he could offer Emma his undivided attention. I doubt we'll hear anything until she's out." Ruby reached out to rest her hand over Killian's left one, as she squeezed it gently in solidarity.

Neither one of them would be able to fully relax until they knew what was happening. But at least they had each other to lean on for support, while they waited.

* * *

It was another forty-three agonizing minutes before the door to the small waiting room opened once more, to reveal Doctor Whale stood in the entrance. Ruby sprung to her feet and practically ran across the room as she threw herself into her boyfriend's arms. The two of them whispered something between themselves that the others couldn't hear, before she detangled herself and took a couple of steps back, to allow him to enter the room and close the door softly behind himself.

Killian and David had also risen to their feet at the sight of a medical professional amongst them at last, but the others had remained in their seats.

"I'm sorry you've all been here so long without any news," he began softly, taking a seat at the head of the room. He waited until the other men had followed his lead, before he continued speaking. "I asked for no distractions in the OR, so that I could offer Emma my full attention."

The others nodded their understanding. As much as it had killed them not to have any updates, they all appreciated how seriously he had taken Emma's treatment.

"I'll start from the beginning. When we arrived at the hospital, Emma was taken to the trauma unit so that we could assess the damage that had been caused. Her heart stopped for a moment during those preliminary examinations, and we had to work hard to restart it."

Ruby's tears started flowing freely once more, as Killian reached over for her hand and squeezed it tightly in between his own.

"When we got a rhythm back we began a blood transfusion and a strong course of antibiotics, to fight off any infection that could have worked its way into her body and potentially compromise her immune system further. We made the decision to wait until that first transfusion had been completed until we took her down to x-ray to find where those bullets were, but once we had the results, we had to move fast."

He paused for a moment as he looked down to where his hands were hanging between his knees. Victor knew all but one of the people sat in that room personally. And he knew how much they loved Emma. Delivering this news to them was far more difficult than he had ever imagined it would be.

"The first bullet that entered her body broke the fourth rib on the left side of her chest, which in itself wasn't the worst of her injuries. But unfortunately, during our attempts to resuscitate her, it was jostled and punctured her lung. I made the decision to get her down into surgery immediately to repair the damage it had caused before anything more severe could become of it. The wound was far too large for the tissue to repair itself, and I fitted a titanium plate to stabilize the bone, so that should she have to undergo any more procedures, we wouldn't need to worry about the risk of that broken rib reopening the wound. While I was in there, I was also able to remove that bullet from her body. We've placed her into a medically induced coma, and fitted a ventilator to help with her breathing while she recovers. We don't want to add to the stress her body is currently under, while she's healing."

Whale gave everyone a moment just to come to terms with the severity of the information he had delivered, before he moved on to the next of Emma's injuries.

"The wound to her shoulder was actually the least of our worries. The bullet's damage was confined to the soft tissue, so we had to make some repairs to the muscle there. Emma will most certainly need physical therapy when she wakes, so that we can help her regain as much motion in the area as is possible. But I'm afraid it's likely she'll never have a full range of motion in that arm again."

"Oh God," Mary-Margret whispered. Because this was far worse than any of them ever could have imagined, and Whale wasn't finished yet.

"The last wound was to her abdominal area and it caused us quite a lot of concern, I'm afraid." His eyes rose briefly to meet Killian's, conveying something the actor didn't quite understand, before they flicked back down to his hands. "An x-ray of the area showed us that it had fractured Emma's pelvis on impact, and that the bullet had lodged itself close to her spine. We needed to get that removed as soon as possible, before it could travel and do any kind of serious damage to the spinal cord. Emma will need to be transported to Boston to see a specialist Orthopaedic surgeon when she is stable, so that the damage to her pelvis can be fixed. But until then, we've done all we can to make sure that there are minimal complications from her injuries."

Killian hadn't realised that his eyes were filled with tears until he tried to blink them away. Whoever had set out to hurt his Emma had certainly achieved their goal. Because from what Doctor Whale had just explained to them all, it sounded like she was lucky to still be alive.

"When um… when can we get her to Boston?" he asked.

"I'll make sure transportation is arranged as soon as she's stable. At the moment, I don't want to risk moving her too far. She crashed on my table twice more while my team were working on her. It's just far too risky to move her right now, I'm afraid."

Killian brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of his nose, as he dropped his head back to the wall behind him. He wanted to scream at someone and hit something hard to release all of his fear and frustrations. But he knew he couldn't do either of those while he was in a hospital waiting room.

"The nurses tell me you're Emma's fiancé," Whale said, startling his attention back to the front of the room.

"No he's not," Neal scoffed, as both Killian and Ruby replied with a firm, "Yes."

"Would you mind coming with me for a moment?" Whale rose again to indicate that they should leave the room, and Killian didn't hesitate to follow the guy out, even as he heard the argument between Emma's ex and her best friend breakout behind him. "Don't worry too much, Ruby can handle herself," Whale assured him, having sensed where Killian's thoughts had gone.

"No offence, Mate, but I'm not sure I can handle worrying about another woman in my life right now."

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Whale nodded his head sympathetically as he flicked on the light in an empty room, and gestured for Killian to enter ahead of him. As he closed the door softly behind the two of them, he told the other man to take a seat.

"I'm good with standing."

"Take a seat," Whale instructed a little firmer. He'd delivered enough bad news in his life to know that the guy stood opposite him was going to need to be sitting, when he heard what the doctor had to say.

"Okay," he began softly, "Can I assume that you've been engaged in an intimate relationship with the Sheriff?" he asked.

"What the hell has that got to do with anything?" Killian snapped back.

"The reason I've asked to speak with you in private is because that final bullet did more damage that I conveyed to the others. I wasn't sure if the two of you would want that information revealing to everyone so publicly, so I thought it best to deliver it to you alone."

"Okay." Killian honestly wasn't sure what the doctor was trying to hint at, but he knew that whatever was coming couldn't have been good news.

"The fracture to her pelvis caused extensive damage to Emma's womb. I'm afraid I wasn't able to save your child."

For a moment, the last word of Whale's sentence hung heavily in the air between the two men, as Killian replayed it in his mind a few times over.

"Child?" he finally croaked out. "Emma was pregnant?"

"You didn't know." It was a statement, not a question. Whale could tell from the way the guy had gone deathly pale that he hadn't been aware of Emma's situation. Which meant that the chances were high that Emma hadn't been aware of her condition either. "Fuck me."

"How um… how long?" he asked, as his brain tried desperately to process the overload of information he was being presented with.

"My best estimate is around nine weeks," Whale replied softly. "I'm so sorry for your loss."

"It's okay," Killian forced out, because he honestly didn't know what else to say.

"Is there um… can we uh… is there a body?" he asked awkwardly, because how the fuck was he supposed to put into words what he was feeling in that moment? He didn't even know what a baby looked like nine weeks into a pregnancy, but he knew that if it were at all possible, he'd want a chance to say goodbye to that child properly. A child that had been made from their love, that was a little part of Emma and a little part of himself.

"Yes," Whale replied softly. "While rare, it's not unheard of to bury or cremate a child's remains at that stage. I'll make sure you both get the time you need to make that decision."

"Thank you."

Whale gave Killian a moment just to come to terms with everything he had heard so far, before he continued. The poor guy looked drained and defeated, and in that moment, the doctor had never hated his job the way he currently did.

"There's more, I'm afraid," he eventually said. He waited until Killian had lifted his head to meet his eyes before he spoke again. "I opted to repair the damage to Emma's womb instead of removing it completely. That way, she will have a choice in what happens to her body when she wakes. But I have to be completely honest with you and say that in my medical opinion, Emma will struggle to carry a child to term after the damage that she has suffered."

Killian wasn't sure how to feel about that news. He was still trying to process the idea of knowing that he had conceived and lost a child in the space of such a short period of time. Hearing that they might not get a second chance to conceive again crushed his soul just that tiny bit more.

"Anything else?" he asked, because he honestly couldn't imagine much more that could go wrong for the woman he loved so much.

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"That's the worst of it," Whale assured him. "There's a lot of cuts and bruising, but those are all superficial, and will heal given time."

"When can I see her?" he asked. Because after everything he'd just been told, Killian needed to see the woman he loved, just to know that she was still hanging in there, and fighting her way back to him.

"Soon." Whale pushed himself back to his feet and reached out to gently squeeze Killian's shoulder. "We're just getting her settled into the ICU, and then I'll have someone come and take you up to her. I'll also need you to sign some forms for me, if that's okay?"

"That's fine," Killian agreed easily.

"I'll give you some time alone to process everything. Don't hesitate to ask for me if you have any more questions."

Killian forced himself to his feet with great difficulty, as he extended a shaky hand for the doctor to take. "Thank you. For saving her life."

"Of course."

* * *

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After Whale had left the room, Killian found himself aimlessly wandering the halls of the hospital, as he tried to process everything the doctor had said.

One of Emma's injuries alone would be cause for concern. All of them at once terrified him, and he wasn't at all ashamed to admit that. When he was finally allowed to see her, Killian wasn't sure he'd ever leave her alone again, until he knew that she was fully recovered.

It wasn't until he found himself in the small gift shop, staring at a wall full of stuffed animals and little onesies in cream, and pink, and blue that the biggest loss of the day finally hit him.

He could have been stood in that hospital for an entirely different reason, seven months from then. He could have been buying one of those cute little onesies to wrap their child up in to bring home with them. Or grabbing a soft toy to help their baby sleep at night. Instead, when Emma finally woke up they would need to discuss possible caskets to bury their child in.

Killian wondered if the baby would have been a beautiful little girl, with green eyes and blonde hair, just like her mother. Or perhaps a handsome little boy, who maybe looked a little like his father, but had his own blue eyes. He wondered what name they would have eventually settled on, and if Emma would want to name the child they had lost.

He wondered if she would even want to try for another baby sometime in their future, or if she would rather spare herself the potential heartache of losing another, and opt to forgo having children of her own.

But most of all, Killian wondered if the woman he loved would ever wake from the coma she was in, to make those decisions with him.

Without a second thought, he picked up one of the small, cream coloured stuffed bears from the display and took it to the girl working behind the counter at the other end of the store. She gave him a slightly odd look as he paid for the toy, before hurrying from the space to find the nearest restroom.

With the door firmly locked behind himself, Killian pulled down the lid on the toilet and sank down onto it, as he yelled his frustrations into the fur of that tiny little bear. He cried for the child he'd lost that day, a child he already loved, even if he hadn't known of the baby's existence until it was too late. And he cried for the woman he loved, who had a long and painful road to recovery ahead of herself.

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* * *

"Hey, are you okay?" Ruby asked softly, as she watched him slip back into the waiting room over an hour later. Killian was still clutching that small bear tightly, and he knew that his eyes were bright red from all of his tears.

But he didn't care how he looked.

In that moment, all that mattered to him was seeing the woman he loved.

"I'll be better when I can see her," he assured Ruby.

She eyed the small bear in his hands but didn't say anything about it, and Killian was grateful for that. He wanted nothing more than to tell her everything, so he would have _someone_ to share that burden with. But he didn't want Emma's best friend to know about the loss of their child before she did.

So he simply took his seat once more.

The atmosphere in the room hadn't changed much with news of Emma's condition. While the unknown had been terrifying to them all, knowing what she was currently going through wasn't much better. And Killian could tell that every single person in the room knew that she had one hell of a fight ahead of her, before they could relax once more.

But things became even worse when a nurse that Killian didn't recognise made her way into the room, with a file of paperwork in her hands.

"Mr. Jones?" she asked, looking down at him with a soft, sympathetic smile. "Doctor Whale has asked me to bring you these to sign."

"Of course," he agreed, taking the folder from her hand to flick through the documents inside of it. "I can um… I can cover any costs her insurance company won't meet," he muttered distractedly. "I don't care how minor it is, if it'll help in any way, make sure she gets it."

"Wait just a minute," a voice piped up from the other end of the room. "As my son is Miss Swan's emergency contact, shouldn't he be the one filling out those forms?"

"If you think I'm letting your good-for-nothing son make any kind of decisions about Emma's care you're severely mistaken," Killian snapped back, as he sat the bear aside to begin signing his way through the documents.

"I don't care what you believe, Mr. Jones. The proper way to handle this matter is to allow Emma's emergency contact to take care of this. After all, that is what an emergency contact is for, is it not?"

"She's _my_ fiancée," Killian yelled, jumping to his feet as all of that suppressed rage began bubbling away inside of him, itching for an outlet. From the corner of his eye he watched as the nurse took a small step back, and David stepped forward to take her place, with Leroy just behind him. "I get that you're pissed I stole your girlfriend, but maybe if you had actually treated her with the kind of love and respect she deserved, you'd still have her in your life."

"Oh, please," Neal scoffed. "You have no idea what our relationship was like. And if you honestly think she's gonna marry _you_ then you're delusional. Emma has commitment issues. That's why she left me."

"I don't think I'm the delusional one in this room," Killian snorted. "You're the one stood here when it's obvious that _nobody_ else wants you around. I mean, what were you expecting to happen? That Emma would wake up, completely forget I ever existed and suddenly fall back into your arms?"

The red tinge that crept up Neal's neck and into his cheeks told Killian far more than any words ever could.

"Oh my God. You did," he declared to the room. "You _actually_ thought there might be a chance that this could cause some kind of amnesia, and then when Emma woke up you'd be able to worm your way back into her life through it. What the hell kind of person does that?"

"Don't you dare stand there and judge me," Neal snapped back. "You're the one who kissed another man's fiancée."

"Yeah. I am. And I'm also the kinda guy who would fight for the person I love, so if you think I'm letting you anywhere _near_ Emma you're insane. She's better off without you."

"You know what," Neal declared suddenly, as he whipped his jacket off the back of his chair. His own temper was rising and he knew that if he didn't get out of that room as soon as possible, he'd say or do something he'd come to regret. "You're welcome to her. After all… you know what they say. Once a whore, always a whore."

His triumphant smirk of victory fell the moment he noticed Killian's expression harden, and David couldn't move fast enough to stop the resounding crack that sounded throughout the room, as Killian's fist connected with Neal's face.

"You fucker. You broke my nose."

"Say it again and see what I break next," Killian challenged darkly, as he took a menacing step forward.

"Are you just gonna stand there, Deputy Nolan?" Gold demanded, outrage seeping into his tone. He turned his son to face him, gently assessing the damage Killian had done to Neal's face, before he snapped, "I want that man arrested."

"Why?" David asked, as he moved to stand beside the guy Emma was currently dating. "If he hadn't of hit him, I would have."

"It's assault," Gold protested loudly. "I want him arrested and charged."

"I dunno what you're talking about," Leroy cut in. "I didn't see anything."

"Me either," Granny added, as her eyes narrowed in the direction of the two men causing all of the trouble.

There was a murmur of agreement from everyone else in the room, and Gold's face fell when he realized that he was both outnumbered and outsmarted.

"You'll be hearing from my lawyer," he sneered, as he grabbed his son's arm to pull him out of the room.

"Oh, Neal," Killian called out, just as he was about to step through the open door. "Do you remember the night Emma kicked you out, and how you told her that her favourite actor from her favourite show would _never_ be interested in someone like her?" He waited a moment to let the statement hang between them, floating around the rest of the people in the room as their own curiosity grew. "If I were you, I'd Google me when you get home so you know _exactly_ who you're dealing with."

Neal's face fell as realisation slowly dawned over him, but Ruby slammed the door to the waiting room shut in his face before he could say anything else.

* * *

When a nurse returned moments later to declare that Emma had been settled into a private room in the intensive care unit, the atmosphere shifted once more. The hospital's policy was that no more than two visitors could be in a patient's room at any one time, and Killian was expecting a battle over who could see her first, and for how long.

He was surprised when Ruby spoke up to say, "You should be with her. We can wait."

"You guys have been waiting longer than me," he protested, even though every bone in his body was aching to run for her bedside.

"Emma would want you there," she whispered softly.

All of his protests died on his tongue as David and Mary-Margret nodded their agreement, and he found himself giving his own. Killian followed nurse Janet out of the room and along the corridors towards the ICU, as she explained the procedure for visiting what the hospital classed as high-risk patients.

"We're gonna ask you to put on a gown and wash your hand thoroughly, before you go in," she told him, stopping them outside of a small changing room. "Emma's body's been through a lot, so we want to make sure she's not exposed to anything else."

"Of course." Killian would have agreed to wear anything in that moment, as long as it meant that he would finally get to see the woman he loved once more.

Janet handed him what he would need for his visit before excusing herself while he dressed. But she didn't go too far, as she was waiting just outside of the door when he emerged once more with a pair of little blue booties covering his shoes, and a matching gown wrapped around his body.

"When you come to visit help yourself to those, and then make sure that you use the hand sanitizing gel before you enter the ICU. On your way out, drop everything down this shoot." She pulled on a metal flap built into the wall opposite the room he'd changed inside of, before she swiped her badge over the sensor on the wall, and held the door open for Killian to step through.

The ICU was a terrifying place to visit. The silence of the ward was only broken by the rhythmic beeps of the machines that were being used to keep the patients there alive. The atmosphere inside of it was tense and suffocating, and Killian hated it.

He followed Janet as she made her way to the far end of the space, and a private room that was located there. But she paused with her hand on the doorknob, before turning back to face him.

"It looks scary," she warned. "I know that. Believe me, I do. But don't let it overwhelm you too much. Emma's body has been through one hell of a trauma in the last twenty-four hours, and the fact that she's in here… fighting… that tells us that she's a lot stronger than she currently looks. Okay?"

Killian didn't trust his voice to speak in that moment, so he simply nodded his understanding as Janet finally pulled down on the handle, and pushed the door open for him to enter through.

"I'll give you some time alone with her," she explained. "But I'll be at the nurse's station just over there if you need me." She pointed to the large desk they had walked past on their way in, and he nodded his understanding once more, before he watched her leave.

He took a deep breath in to steel himself for what was about to come, before heading in through the open door and closing it softly behind himself.

The sight that greeted Killian had him crumpling to the floor beneath him as his knees gave out. His entire body shook violently while he attempted to smother the anguished sobs that were leaving his mouth involuntarily, with the back of his arm.

Emma was lying deadly still on a bed in the middle of the room. The only noises were coming from the mechanical hiss of the ventilator that was breathing for her, and the steady beep of her heartrate on the monitor.

She looked so broken that Killian wasn't sure his heart would ever fully recover from the sight of her in that bed.

* * *

 **Thank you for reading. I know this one was incredibly heavy, but after watching a close friend struggle through this herself for the last decade, it's something I wanted to represent as accurately as I possibly could. I truly hope I've begun to do that justice here.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Sorry this one is a little late. I was trying to fight off a stubborn migraine, and then had some technical issues in the last 48 hours.**

 **Again, I am in no way a medical expert. What I have written here is based on hours of extensive research, but I'm happy to be corrected if any of it is wrong.**

 **WARNING - This chapter does deal with the loss of a child, and the emotional fallout of that. If this is something that you're not comfortable reading but you still wish to read the chapter, I've marked where the section begins and ends with this CSCSCSCS There's only 1 in this chapter. If you wish to skip over this update completely I would fully understand that. Please make your choices based on what is best for you personally.**

* * *

It took a while for Killian's tears to finally dry up, as his anguished cries became soft sobs. But he remained on that hard floor a while longer as he pulled himself together, before he eventually staggered to his feet.

When he made it to Emma's bedside and peered down at the woman he loved, his sobs threatened to return again, as he assessed the damage he could see to her small body. Her right arm was in a sling, presumably to prevent her from jarring the damaged muscles there when she woke. Killian couldn't see the evidence of the other wounds the bullets had caused with the blankets tucked around her, but there were plenty of cuts and bruises on the skin that he could see, suggesting that whoever had shot Emma, had beaten her before they'd opened fire.

His stomach lurched at the thought of what she must have been through, and he found himself clutching the small bear a little tighter to his chest, as he screwed his eyes shut to stave off the tears. He wasn't sure there were any more left inside of him now.

"Hi, Sweetheart. I'm sorry it took me so long to get here," he found himself eventually whispering, as he brushed the hair back from Emma's face, to drop a kiss to her brow.

Her left cheek was hidden under a large purple bruise, and there was a gash over her right eye that had been cleaned down by one of the nurses. The last thing he wanted to do was cause her any more pain than she had already suffered, so he kept his touches light and soft. But Killian found it hard to keep his hands off her, now that he had finally been reunited with the woman he loved.

He sat the small stuffed bear down beside Emma in the bed, wary of all of the wires and tubes that had been placed into her body, before he turned to look for a chair. A quick glance around the room showed that a couple of seats had been placed under the window, so Killian quickly pulled one over to the side of the bed, before dropping down heavily into it.

He hadn't realised until that moment just how exhausted he was.

"I promise I'm not going anywhere now," he assured her. "They're gonna have to physically remove me from this hospital, if they want me out of it." His hand found hers where it had been placed on top of the sheets covering her body, and Killian picked it up to hold carefully between his own.

"I uh… in the movies, they say that people can hear what you say to them, when they're unconscious. So I'm hoping you can hear this, because I need you to know how much I love you, Emma. I need you to come back to me, okay. I don't know how I'm supposed to get through this without you."

He brought her hand up to his lips to brush light kisses across the back of her knuckles, but everything about the moment felt wrong to Killian. Emma's grip on him had always been fierce and strong. Feeling her hand so cool and limp inside of his own, was churning his already empty stomach.

"But don't wake up just yet, okay?" he chuckled bitterly. "Doctor Whale tells me that you'll be in a lot of pain if you do, and you've already suffered enough, my love. So take some time to get better, and then come back to me, okay? I _need you_ , Emma. I don't work without you now."

Killian dropped his head down to rest against the side of the bed as he screwed his eyes shut. He had no idea how he was supposed to get through the rest of the week without her by his side.

* * *

"Killian?"

His head sprung up from the side of the bed, and his neck immediately began protesting the painful angle he'd fallen asleep at, as he turned to see Ruby hovering in the doorway to Emma's room.

But all of her focus was now on the woman in the bed between them.

"It's okay," someone behind her whispered quietly. "She's fighting."

Ruby nodded her understanding as Whale steered her into the room, wearing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt under his gown, rather than the scrubs Killian had seen him in before. Behind them were David and Mary-Margret, whose own faces had fallen at the sight of their beloved friend, so battered and broken in that hospital bed.

"Is she…"

"She's doing as well as can be expected, given the situation," Ruby's boyfriend assured them. "Everyone in this hospital will do all they can to make sure it stays that way."

Whale grabbed the other free chair from underneath the window, and pulled it a little closer to Emma's bedside. He nodded his head at the seat to indicate that his girlfriend should take it, and Killian took that as his hint to do the same for Emma's other friends.

"Do you um… do you wanna sit?" he asked Mary-Margret awkwardly, because the last thing he wanted to do in that moment was give up his place by Emma's side. But he knew that her friends had just as much of a right to be there as he did.

"It's fine," she whispered, as her eyes tracked the soft strokes his thumbs were making over the back of Emma's hand, and the way he'd laced their fingers tightly together. She'd never seen anyone show her friend that much physical affection before, and that small revelation rocked her to her core.

"Did you meet at the convention?" she found herself eventually asking, just to break the tense silence that had filled the room.

"Yeah." A small smile tugged at Killian's lips as he thought back to that day in Boston, and how much his life had changed since then. "Well technically, we met just before it. She was… she's so beautiful. Inside and out. I couldn't stay away from her. I didn't want to." He reached up to brush the hair back from Emma's face once more, knowing how much she hated when it fell into her eyes, before he pressed his lips softly to the unblemished skin just above her brow.

"What am I missing?" David asked curiously, as his own eyes flicked between the clearly devastated and broken man sat by Emma's bed, and his wife, who was watching the guy's every move so very intently.

Ruby snorted a little as she waited to see what the two would offer up as an explanation. But when they both seemed to flounder for the right way to phrase what had happened, to the other man in the room, she jumped in to help them out. "You know the show that Emma's obsessed with?"

"The one about a bunch of fairy tales?" David asked, confusion rolling off him in waves.

"Killian's the guy who plays her favourite character on the show, Captain Hook."

"No he's not," David snorted, turning his attention back down to the guy sat beside Emma's bed.

He didn't look like any version of Captain Hook David had ever seen before.

Killian simply cocked a brow up at Emma's deputy. He wasn't in the right frame of mind to argue the point with the guy, at that moment in time.

Ruby didn't seem to have such problems, as she quickly pulled her phone out of her pocket, and loaded up Killian's page on a popular celebrity website. "Are you sure about that?" she asked, as she turned the screen to face David.

He took a moment to browse through the information that was common knowledge about Killian Jones, before he started flicking through the images on the page. Images that started with some of Killian's earliest carer moments, and progressed through to him in the usual leather costume he'd formed a love/hate relationship with, over the past five years; and then back to images of Killian as himself, attending various events throughout the years, in order to promote the show.

"Holy shit," David whispered, as he handed the device back to Ruby, who quickly pulled up Killian's Instagram feed. It didn't take her long to find his most recent posts, and she was more than happy to show her friends some of the images the actor had shared of himself with Emma, since their relationship had begun. "How did this happen?"

"We just covered that, David," his wife sighed fondly. "Keep up, Darling." She turned her attention back over to Killian and smiled softly as she said, "These are beautiful pictures. I didn't even recognise Emma in them."

"That was my intention," he told her, but he kept his gaze fully focused on the woman in the bed by his side. "I don't like hiding her away, but I also didn't want to expose her to any of the nastiness some of the online trolls can bring."

"That's sweet of you to do."

Killian let the silence settle over the room at Mary-Margret's words, as he brought Emma's hand to his lips to brush a sweet kiss to the back of her knuckles. He hated how much he missed those soft noises she would make every time he'd kissed her before.

And the thought of never hearing them again filled his stomach with dread.

"We should get going," David announced reluctantly, as he cast a look around the room. "We need to pick Leo up."

"I'm staying," Killian replied immediately. Not that anyone had expected anything else from him.

"I am too," Whale added, starling them all. When they turned back to face him he explained, "Emma's not out of danger yet. The time it takes for me to get here from my place, or yours," he added, throwing a pointed look at Ruby, "Could make a huge difference when it comes to saving her life. I'll spend the night on the couch in my office."

"Thank you," Killian offered sincerely. It meant the world to him to see just how much the town had pulled together, to make sure that Emma would survive this incident. It gave him the hope he needed that he'd have the chance to see those beautiful green eyes of hers once more.

And that hope was all he had left to cling to, right then.

Ruby fiddled in her purse for a moment before she pulled out a set of keys to hand to him. "If you need a comfortable bed to sleep in, or a hot shower… or anything really, you know where we are," she told him.

Killian couldn't see himself making use of her offer. His stomach turned at the idea of having to bathe in Emma's shower, or sleep in her bed, without her beside him. But he appreciated the gesture her friend was making, so he tucked the keys safely into the pocket of his jeans.

"Thanks, Ruby."

She leaned down to brush a kiss to his cheek, before turning to her boyfriend to say goodbye to him more privately.

"It was nice to finally meet you," David offered, extending his hand for Killian to take. "I'm just sorry it was under these circumstances."

"Me too. Thanks for uh… thanks for knowing her well enough to realize that something was wrong."

David simply nodded his head in understanding, as he helped his wife to her feet.

"We'll be back in the morning. Can we bring you anything?" she wondered.

"I'll be fine, thanks. I'm just gonna stay here. I don't want her to be alone. Everything else can wait."

Mary-Margret leaned in to press a kiss to Killian's cheek, before bending down to brush one over Emma's forehead. When she straightened back up, Killian caught the shimmer of tears that had formed in her eyes, as David gently guided her from the room, whispering soft reassurances into his wife's hair.

Ruby and Whale left with them, sending small smiles and whispered words of goodnight his way, as they closed the door behind themselves, leaving Killian alone with the woman he loved once more.

He made himself a little more comfortable in his chair as he took Emma's hand into his own again, and told her, "So, I've met your friends now. I'd argue that it went much better than when you met mine. They seem like good people, Emma. I'm glad you have them in your life. You deserve to be showered with love. You deserve your happy ending, my love."

* * *

Killian was just coming out of the small bathroom attached to Emma's room, when he saw a couple of guys in scrubs making their way out of it. Nurse Janet was stood by Emma's bedside with her file in hand, as she took her time checking each of the monitors over carefully.

"What's going on?" he asked, already worried about what could have happened to the woman he loved, in the small space of time that he'd been occupied for.

"Doctor Whale thought you could use that," she explained, nodding her head towards the wall that contained the only exterior window in the room. Instead of the small table that had been previously sat there, another hospital cot had been pushed tight against it, with fresh linen stacked on top.

"Thanks," he whispered, as he realised that the doctor had made the decision to allow him to remain as close to Emma as he possibly could. Killian assumed that it was an offer rarely made to the family of loved ones in the ICU, but he wasn't going to turn it down.

"No worries. Do you need anything at all before I take my break?" she enquired politely. "I can run down and grab you some snacks and drinks, if you'd like?"

"A drink would be good, thanks. Just a bottle of water will do." He reached into his back pocket to fish out his wallet, but Janet was already waving his offer away, as she set the file down at the end of Emma's bed, and headed for the door.

"I'll bring it up to you as soon as I can."

* * *

Killian was fast asleep in the small chair beside Emma's bed, clutching tightly to her left hand, when Janet made it back to the ICU. She stood a bag of snacks and drinks onto the cabinet closest to the sheriff's fiancé, before leaving as quietly as she could to let the man get some much needed rest.

* * *

He was already awake when Granny and Ruby arrived the next morning, however. Killian had found himself bolting awake in the middle of the night a number of times, scared and confused before he realized where he was, what he'd been dreaming about, and why.

Granny's face paled the way most people's did the first time they got a good look at Emma's condition, but the older woman held it together remarkably well. She took a moment just to compose herself, before she made her way over to Killian's side. She sat a steaming mug of coffee onto the table beside him, before she bent to wrap her arms around his shoulders for a gentle hug. When she was finished, Granny reached for Emma's hand and gave it a soft squeeze, before she took a seat of her own.

"Now that you guys are here, I uh… I'm just gonna go and grab something to eat," Killian reluctantly whispered.

He hated the thought of leaving Emma for any length of time, but he wanted to give her friends a moment alone with her. After vomiting on set the day before, he knew that he needed to eat something before he passed out.

"Are you sure?" Ruby asked. She might not have known Killian for long, but she knew him well enough to know how much it would hurt him to leave Emma's side.

"Yeah. I won't be gone for long." He pulled himself up and out of his chair, before bending down to press a lingering kiss to Emma's forehead, as he whispered, "I love you, Sweetheart."

Killian waited until he was out of the hospital completely, and had found a small spot just behind the building where he knew he was unlikely to be interrupted, before he pulled his phone from his pocket and hit dial on the number he used most.

"Mam?" he asked, as soon as the line connected.

"Killian? Is that you, Honey?"

"Yeah," he whispered. The tears were already beginning to form once more, and he squeezed his eyes shut in an attempt to hold them back.

He'd spent the night being woken randomly by disturbing dreams of what had happened to his girlfriend and their child, in the middle of that forest. After the third one had left him dry-heaving into the toilet until he'd managed to calm himself down, he'd understood that he needed to speak to someone about what had happened, before the nightmares drove him insane.

But now that his mother was on the line, Killian was beginning to realize just how hard it was going to be to get those words out. "Do you um… do you have some time to talk?"

"Of course. What's happened?" she asked. Concern was filling her tone at the pain she could hear colouring her son's voice, and Killian hated that he had no way of preparing her for what was about to come.

"It's uh… it's Emma," he finally squeezed out, as he screwed his eyes shut once more, in an attempt to prevent the tears from falling.

It didn't work.

He could already feel a steady stream of them rolling down over his cheeks.

"Did she breakup with you?"

"No," he chuckled bitterly. Because in that moment, Killian was certain that a breakup would be easier to deal with than what he was currently going through. At least if she'd ended things with him, he wouldn't have to worry about whether or not Emma would ever breath for herself again.

"She um… she's been hurt, Mam. Badly."

"How badly?" his mother asked, her tone immediately switching to mimic the one he was sure his own voice had carried, when he'd gotten that call from Ruby the day before.

"She was shot." Killian paused as he heard his mother suck in a harsh breath at his words. He knew that even though she and Emma hadn't met personally, what he was about to say next was going to hurt her. "Three times."

" _Three_?" she forced out. " _Why_? Why would anyone do that?"

"We don't know. I'm uh… I'm hoping David will have some answers for me today. But he's not here yet."

Killian let a loaded silence stretch across the line, as he brought his hand up to pinch his eyes shut. The more he tried to force the words out, the more they seemed to stick in his throat.

"She um… she's gonna need a lot of therapy when she gets out of hospital. There was damage to the muscles in her shoulder, so she might never regain full motion in her right arm again. One of the bullets broke a rib, and that ended up puncturing her lung, so she's on a ventilator right now. And another… another broke her pelvis. We're waiting for her to be deemed medically stable enough to transfer to Boston, so a specialist can fix the damage. If not, she might never walk properly again."

"Oh, Honey," his mother sobbed.

While she'd not had the pleasure of meeting Emma in person just yet, Sinéad Jones couldn't help but cry over the pain she imagined the poor girl must have been in, and the pain that she was sure would follow the moment Emma opened her eyes.

 **CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS**

"There's more," Killian whispered softly. "She was um… she was pregnant. Doctor Whale… he couldn't… he couldn't… he…"

"You lost the baby," she whispered softly, because she couldn't begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for her son to attempt to form those words, in that moment. "Oh, Killian… I'm so sorry, Sweetheart."

"I don't know what to do, Mam," he wept. "We didn't even know about the baby, and now it's already gone. I don't know when Emma's gonna wake up, or if she even will. Doctor Whale said that he'll make arrangements so that we can say a proper goodbye, but I don't know if Emma will want that. I don't even know when we can tell her about our little angel. Do cemeteries bury babies that young? Is there even a baby to bury? I don't… I don't know what I'm supposed to do. Help me, Mama."

Killian wasn't sure if his mother said anything immediately following his breakdown. All he could hear was his own grief-stricken sobs echoing down the line, as he allowed everything that he'd been bottling up to spill out.

When his tears eventually ran dry, and all that was left was his heavy breathing, Sinéad finally spoke up.

"I need to you to think positively," she told her son, her voice wavering a little from her own tears. "Emma's _going_ to wake up. And you're gonna be right by her side when she does. Don't you doubt that, Killian. You have to have faith. As for your little angel, I can't tell you what to do there, Sweetheart. That's a decision that you and Emma need to make _together_. When she wakes up, if she's not ready to handle that, then you'll wait until she is. Because I can guarantee you that she'll need her chance to grieve properly, just as you will."

Even though she couldn't see him, Killian nodded his agreement to his mother's words, as he used his sleeve to dry his face.

"I'm not an expert in this area, but I know that some of the local authorities here have Angel Gardens for little ones that small, so if you wanted to bury your baby, then I'm sure you'll find somewhere that can help you with that. But Killian… can I make a suggestion?"

"Of course," he encouraged. Because at that moment in time, Killian needed all of the help and guidance he could get.

"Don't bury her. You move around a lot for work, Honey. When Emma wakes up, she's probably gonna wanna stay by your side. Don't bury your baby somewhere that will have no strong meaning or connection to either of you." Sinéad paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, before she added, "If it were me, I'd um… I'd look into cremation. You can either scatter the ashes somewhere that does have a special meaning to you both, or you can do something with them?"

"Do something?" he asked. His mind was racing with the words his mother had spoken. There was only one place that Killian could think of that held any special meaning to both himself and Emma, and it wasn't an ideal location to bury anyone, let alone a child.

"There are companies that will take a small portion of the ashes of a loved one, and turn them into something special. You could consider doing something similar for your little angel? That way, you'd have something to keep her close to you at all times. Talk it through with Emma when she wakes up, and see what she feels is right. But whatever you do, Killian… don't push her to make a decision until she's ready. I can't even begin to imagine how much pain she'll be in both physically and emotionally, when she wakes up. She'll need you now, more than she ever has before."

"I won't," Killian promised. "I don't wanna make this worse for her. I just… I wish she was here with me, Mam."

"I know, Baby. I know. And she will be soon, okay. You _have_ to believe that."

 **CSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCSCS**

There was another heavy silence between the two of them while they each tried to process everything that had been said in the last hour, before Sinéad finally asked, "Can I do anything for you? Do you need me to come out there, because I'll board the next plane to Canada if I have to?"

"Boston, Ma," he reluctantly chuckled. "I'm in Maine."

"Of course you are. Have you um… have you spoken to work?" she asked carefully.

Sinéad knew that work was probably the last thing on Killian's mind in that moment. But she also knew that her son had signed a very specific contract for the role of Hook, and the last thing she wanted was for him to end up with even more to worry about, while he was trying to help the woman he loved bounce back from this horrendous attack.

"I um… I was on set when Ruby called to tell me what had happened. They know something serious has pulled me away."

"Make sure you call them and explain everything," she implored. "I know it's probably the last thing on your mind right now, but you have to let them know what's going on."

"I will," he assured his mother. "I promise."

Killian dropped his gaze down to the toes of his shoes, momentarily amazed that he'd managed to find a matching pair in his hurry to leave Vancouver, before he finally spoke again. "I need to get back inside to Emma."

"Of course you do. Call us as soon as you have an update."

"I will do," he promised once more. "I love you, Ma," Killian declared, before ending the call to struggle back to his feet.

* * *

He made a quick stop at the small café on the ground floor, before making his way back up to the ICU once more, pulling on a fresh pair of booties and a new gown as he did. Ruby was still sat by Emma's side, reading the daily paper aloud to her friend. But her grandmother was nowhere to be seen.

"She left to open the diner," Ruby explained, as she folded the paper and sat it down on the small cabinet beside Emma's bed. Killian noticed that she'd folded it so the front-page was facing inwards, and he assumed it was to spare him from the headline about his girlfriend's horrific attack.

"How's she been?" he asked, as he bent forward to brush his lips over Emma's forehead and closed eyes, before he took his rightful place beside her once more.

"No change. The nurse said that's a good thing, though. That we shouldn't expect to see any changes just yet, as her body's busy healing itself, and it needs time to do that. But I just… I hate seeing her so still, Killian."

"Me too," he whispered softly, as he picked Emma's hand up to hold tightly between his own. "She always has this fierce and passionate grip whenever we hold each other. Feeling her so passive and unresponsive… it's wrong, Ruby. It's all wrong."

His friend reached out to lay her hand reassuringly over his left bicep, offering Killian the only kind of comfort she had in that moment, as the two of them sat and watched the ventilator breathe for Emma.

* * *

David's entrance into the room broke their silent camaraderie, as they both looked up to face the newcomer.

"How is she?" he asked, moving towards the bed to get a good look at his friend. In the harsh light of day, the cuts and bruises that littered her skin looked worse, but she looked much better than when he'd first found her in the forest. Her skin no longer had that greyish tinge to it, which gave David some hope that his friend would eventually wake up.

"As well as can be expected," Killian replied, while he watched Emma's friend bend over to press his own kiss to her hair. "Did you sleep much?"

David chuckled bitterly as he straightened up, before making his way around the room to pull himself up onto the small cot that had been left for Killian. "Not really," he admitted honestly. "Every time I closed my eyes all I could see was her lying in that pool of blood. I'll sleep when she's awake."

Killian and Ruby both nodded their understanding. They knew what David meant, as they'd both had their own nightmares to battle through the night before, and they knew the dreams would keep coming, until Emma opened her eyes again.

"How are you going to find the person responsible for this?" Killian eventually demanded, his tone slightly harsher than he had intended it to be. But in his defence, with David sat in Emma's hospital room, he wasn't sure who was out in the forest collecting evidence to punish the person who had hurt the woman he loved.

"A unit from the Boston Police Department is here. I called them out yesterday. I'm far too close to this investigation to be a part of it. They've been combing the forest for evidence since the moment they arrived."

Killian relaxed a little further into his seat at David's words. It wasn't that he didn't trust the guy to catch the bastard who had hurt Emma. It was just that he knew how distracted David would be while Emma was still in an unstable condition. And he'd seen enough crime dramas to know that distracted cops never caught the bad guys.

They usually ended up getting hurt themselves.

"When can we speak with the person in charge of the investigation?" Ruby asked.

"I'll um… I'll give them a call a little later and ask them to stop by. At the moment they're busy, and I don't want to disturb them. I know this seems like a targeted attack, but I think most of the people in town will feel better knowing that there are people out there working to catch this son of a bitch."

"I um… I want to take Emma back to Vancouver with me when she's stable," Killian declared into the silence of the room. He knew that it would be a controversial topic of conversation, but given that someone had appeared to deliberately lure the woman he loved into the woods with the intention of killing her, he didn't want her spending a moment longer in Storybrooke than she needed to. And he certainly wasn't planning to spend another night away from her ever again.

"I expected as much." Ruby smiled sadly as she reached out to fuss a little with Emma's sheets. She'd miss her friend, but she didn't want her staying in a place where her life was at risk. "I don't blame you, though. She's not safe here."

"We don't know that," David protested. "It could have happened to me, if I'd been on duty that night."

Ruby and Killian were already shaking their heads in protest before he'd finished speaking. They knew that what had happened to Emma had been personal. Someone had deliberately set out to kill her, and they'd come damned close to achieving that goal.

She was no longer safe in the only place she'd ever called home, and that thought broke Killian's heart a little more. Storybrooke had been a home to Emma because it was the first place she hadn't felt the need to run from, in her lifetime. And now, not only had this bastard taken their child from her, along with the potential for any children in their future, he'd also taken her only home from her too.

Killian had never hated anyone as much as he hated the person who had put the woman he loved in that hospital bed. He only hoped that the Boston Police Department found out who was responsible for hurting Emma, before he did.

* * *

Killian had been dozing in the chair beside Emma's bed when her nurse knocked softly on the door, before pushing her way into the room with a large bunch of flowers in her arms.

"The Sheriff has a delivery," she declared, as she sat them down onto the table that had been pushed against the wall opposite Emma's bed.

"Do you know who they're from?" Killian asked, as he screwed his brow up in concern.

"There's a card with them, but I haven't opened it," she replied. "I just need to check on your fiancée's dressings while I'm in here. Is that something you'd rather leave the room for?"

"Uh… no. I um… I don't wanna leave her."

David had stayed for over an hour before he'd left to check in with the unit co-ordinator from Boston, stating that he would be switching out with Mary-Margret when he was done, so that she could come and visit her friend while he watched over their son. Ruby had reluctantly left a little later, when her tummy had made its desire for food known. She had mumbled something about getting lunch with Doctor Whale, but Killian assumed that she'd be back sooner rather than later.

Until then, he didn't want to leave Emma's side.

"This won't be pretty, but try not to panic, okay?" the nurse advised, as she bent to fetch some supplies from the cabinet by the door. When she had everything she needed, she sat them down on the side of Emma's bed, before she pulled on a pair of latex gloves.

She gently eased back the sheets that had been covering Emma's body, to reveal a hospital gown that had been tied back-to-front around her small frame. Killian realised why it had been placed on her that way the moment the nurse pulled on the small string, to peel back the side that was covering the wound near Emma's shoulder.

A large piece of gauze was covering the site, and he watched as it was gently peeled away to reveal more that had been packed into the open wound in Emma's flesh.

"We pack it just to prevent infection and the formation of abscesses," the nurse explained, at the look of curiosity on Killian's face. "It's looking good," she assured him. "But we like to keep a close eye on these types of wounds, just to make sure things stay that way. Doctor Whale will probably stitch this closed later this evening, when he's sure that the wound is fully clean. Given where Emma was found, he's taking extra precautions to be certain that an infection won't set in."

Killian nodded his head to show his understanding, as he watched her redress the wound once more, before she pulled Emma's gown closed around her shoulders. The nurse took a moment to push the sheets a little further down the bed, so that they rested just over the tops of Emma's thighs, before she pulled the gown open around her waist.

"Jesus Christ," Killian bit out, as he took in the bandages that covered her torso. The first one that was peeled away covered what he assumed was the place where Whale had repaired the damaged to Emma's broken rib, and punctured lung. The incision site was smaller than he had expected it to be, and had already been sewn shut.

The nurse checked the stitches over carefully, making sure that there was no increased swelling or redness around the area, as she looked for any sign of blood or puss, before she covered the site once more.

The last one was by far the largest of Emma's injuries, and Killian felt his breakfast churn in his stomach at the sight of it. While Doctor Whale had managed to keep his incision low, it spanned almost the entire width of Emma's body. While it had been sewn shut, the wound looked angry and painful; not at all like the one over her ribs. There was a little seepage around the area that the nurse quickly cleaned down, before she redressed the site once more.

When she was finished, Killian helped her to close Emma's gown before he pulled the sheets back up around his girlfriend's body, and bent to press a kiss to her forehead again.

"You're doing so well," he whispered into her hair, as he allowed himself to linger a little longer than usual. "I'm so, so proud of you, my love."

With one more kiss pressed to the corner of her mouth, Killian pulled back and turned to thank the nurse for her care.

But the room was empty once more.

Before he took his seat at Emma's bedside again, he detoured over to the bright display of flowers that had been left in the room. Killian hesitated for a moment when he found the card, before opening the flap on the envelope, to pull out the message that had been written inside.

What he saw on that small piece of paper warmed his heart more than he thought possible, given the current situation.

 _Emma,_

 _Although we may not know you in person,_

 _we know that you have a kind and gentle soul._

 _We are wishing you all the best for a speedy recovery,_

 _and we hope to see you soon,_

 _under much better circumstances._

 _All of our love, thoughts and prayers are with you,_

 _Brennan and Sinéad Jones._

 _X_

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

 **The next chapter will post NEXT weekend.**


	37. Chapter 37

**Sorry for the slight delay with this one. When I read this chapter aloud last night the flow was off, so I've tinkered until it felt right to me.**

* * *

Ruby had been busy trying to squeeze any kind of Hollywood gossip she could get out of Emma's boyfriend, when David knocked softly on the door to the hospital room, before poking his head inside.

"The um… the detective in charge of Emma's investigation is downstairs in the café, if you guys wanted to talk with her," he announced.

Killian stood up immediately, his desire for answers burning brightly in that instant, until he realized that meeting with the Boston detective would mean leaving Emma alone.

"Mary-Margret's on her way. You can wait until she arrives, if you'd like?" David offered, picking up on where Emma's fiancé's thoughts must have gone. Because he had been thinking the same thing, too. "I'd rather she not be alone right now."

"Thanks, David. I appreciate that."

"I'll stay with Killian until she gets here," Ruby added, as they both sank back down into their respective seats. Killian picked up his girlfriend's hand once more to hold tightly between his own. That small piece of physical contact was all that was keeping him going right then.

"Okay. I'll um… I'll be down in the café. I'll grab you both some coffee while I wait."

David excused himself quietly and headed back downstairs to keep the detective some company, while Ruby and Killian waited in silence for Mary-Margret's arrival. They were both far too nervous about the conversation ahead of them to start one of their own.

* * *

When Mary-Margret finally arrived, the two exchanged brief hugs and kisses with her, before they whispered their goodbyes to Emma, to head down to the café that formed part of the small hospital.

Killian's hands were shaking as he let Ruby guide them silently through the corridors. He wasn't sure if it was due to the lack of food and sleep he'd gotten since her call, or if it was a result of the fear pumping through his veins at the thought of what he was about to hear. But he stuffed his hands into his pockets just to be safe.

He was glad that David had opted to wait with the detective, because neither Killian nor Ruby would have recognized the middle-aged woman that was sat with their friend, involved in some kind of deep conversation. Thankfully, David seemed to spot them the moment they entered the room, as he stood to usher them over to a table that was already laden with coffee cups and snacks.

"I um… you looked like you could use something to eat," David explained, at Killian's perplexed look. The actor nodded his head in thanks, as the woman sat beside their friend rose to her feet. "Ruby, Killian… this is Detective Roberts of the Boston Police Department. She's in charge of Emma's case."

"It's nice to meet you both," she offered, as she held out her hand for each of them to shake, before gesturing that they should take a seat around the small table. "I understand that you're Sheriff Swan's roommate and fiancé?"

"Yes," they both replied. Because they knew that using the term fiancé would give Killian more privilege than he would be afforded as her boyfriend. And If Ruby were being completely honest, she could see her friend with a ring on her finger, not long after she woke up. Killian had certainly proved his commitment to their relationship, since the moment he'd gotten that call.

"I'm so sorry about what has happened," Detective Roberts offered. "We didn't work together often, but when we did, Sheriff Swan seemed like a lovely person."

"Can we uh… can we not use past tense here to describe the woman I love, please?" Killian asked through gritted teeth. "She's unconscious, not dead."

Ruby reached out to rest a reassuring hand over his arm. One that told him that she could understand his frustrations, but that he should probably calm down a little, if they were going to get any kind of information from the police investigation that afternoon.

"Of course. My apologies." The detective offered him a small smile as she picked up her own coffee cup to take a sip from it, before she spoke again. "I'll get straight to the point for you both, as I know that this must be tough for you. At the moment, we don't have a great deal to work with, I'm afraid. We haven't been able to find much at the scene, given the environment the attack took place in, and the length of time it took Deputy Nolan to find your Sheriff. So we're hoping that what we need will be found on the Sheriff herself. We've sent everything back to our labs for analysis. They have the swabs and physical evidence taken from the Sheriff by the medical team here, along with everything Emma was wearing that day. It's going to take some time for them to go through everything, but they'll be in touch as soon as they have some information. From what I've seen of the images your trauma team provided, it looks like she may have fought back. So there's a good chance that the attacker has left his DNA somewhere on Emma's person."

Killian had been expecting that kind of report, given where David had found Emma. The forest would make it difficult to find any kind of physical evidence, thanks to its location and environment. He'd also noticed the rain coming down when his taxi had made its way over the town line. That had likely washed away anything that could be helpful to their case.

But he couldn't help but have been hopeful that there might have been _something…. anything…_ that could help them find the person responsible for hurting his Emma.

"There is one thing I wanted to share with you, though. Your deputy doesn't think it's a good idea to do so, but I disagree."

Killian and Ruby's eyes flew over to David, who looked a little ashamed at being outed the way he was, before they settled back on the detective.

"They don't need to know because it doesn't help with anything," David countered.

"I disagree," the detective argued, sounding like they'd covered this exact topic of conversation many times already that day. "Closure is all about having as many answers as you can get, even if they're not necessarily the ones you're looking for."

There was a loaded silence that hung in the air, and Killian and Ruby both found themselves biting down hard on their tongues, to stop themselves from snapping at someone to just spit it all out. While the information might not be important to the overall investigation, as far as Killian was concerned, Detective Roberts was right. He wanted to know anything and everything that had happened to his girlfriend, no matter how big or small that piece of information was.

"Doctor Whale has provided our team with the bullets that were removed from the sheriff during her surgery. We had those transported back to the labs in Boston this morning, along with her personal effects. The early analysis of those indicate that the shooter didn't bring his own weapon to the scene."

Killian's stomach felt like it was twisting in on itself once more, and he knew that needed to get away before he vomited everywhere.

"I don't understand," Ruby whispered quietly, as he pushed his chair back with a jarring scrape.

"The fucker shot her with her own gun," he spat down at the table, before storming his way out of the café.

He could just make out the sounds of David's whispered, "I told you that wouldn't help anyone," as he ran for the entrance.

Killian made it as far as the nearest trashcan outside of the building before he found his breakfast from that morning making a sudden reappearance.

* * *

When he finally managed to stop the retching and the shaking in his hands, he pulled out his phone once more, as he headed for the same spot he'd placed the call to his mother from. The battery was getting rather low, so he knew that he'd have to try and find a way to get some sort of charger sent out to him before the end of the day, but Killian was sure that there would be just enough power in the device to make the next call that he needed to place.

He sank down onto the same patch of grass he'd used earlier that morning to call home, while he waited for the line to connect.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Danny. It's me," he explained, unnecessarily.

"Killian," the guy on the other end of the line sighed. "How are you? I heard you ran off set like something was on fire. What the hell's going on?"

"I um… I need to know how I go about invoking the emergency clause built into my contract," he replied.

"What do you mean?" Danny asked. "Was something literally on fire?"

"I wish," Killian chuckled bitterly. Because physical belongings were easy to replace. He wasn't sure he'd ever be able to find someone to fill Emma's place in his life, if he were to lose her. "My um… my fiancée, she uh… someone shot her in the line of duty. She's in the hospital, and not out of danger yet."

"Shit." The network executive on the other end of the line was silent for a moment, likely stunned by Killian's revelation, before he finally replied. "Uh, yeah. You should um… you should be with her."

"Yeah," Killian agreed. Because that was never a point up for debate.

"I'll um… I'll have a word with the production team and see what they can do to make this work for you. I think you're in luck, though. You're working on the second half of the season now, right?"

"We are," he agreed.

He thought he had vague memories of the script they'd been working on being for the second episode after the mid-season break. Which would hopefully mean that the rest of the cast could film without him until Emma was out of danger, and then he could return to shoot his own coverage when she was able to travel back with him. But if the network couldn't make that happen, Killian would gladly encourage them to write Hook out of the show completely.

He wasn't going anywhere until Emma was fit enough to travel with him.

"I don't think it will be a problem, but leave it with me," Danny offered. "I'll have a chat with the team and then get back to you. Either way, we're not going to force you to leave your fiancée while she's still recovering from this."

"Thanks, Danny. I'm sorry if this puts you into a difficult position."

"Don't be," he dismissed easily. "Family _always_ comes first. We all know that. I hope she bounces back soon for you."

"Me too," Killian whispered quietly.

"And uh, congratulations on the engagement. I had no idea you were even seeing someone."

"We were um… we were keeping it quiet," Killian replied honestly. "It was only a recent development anyway."

"Well, I look forward to meeting her," Danny told him sincerely. "Keep us up to date on how she's doing, yeah?"

"I will do," Killian promised, before he disconnected the call.

He dropped his head back to rest against the wall behind him as he screwed his eyes shut for a moment. He really hoped that he'd get the chance to introduce his co-workers to Emma, when she woke up. He knew that she'd love every single moment of those interaction. And while he hated the idea of leaving the show at such a disadvantage, Killian also knew that if the situation had been reversed, none of his co-workers would have hesitated to do the same.

He just hoped that Emma would be deemed stable enough to be transferred to Boston soon. Because after everything he'd heard since his arrival at the hospital, the longer she stayed in Storybrooke, the more he worried about her safety within the town.

* * *

While Killian was busy placing his call, Ruby had one of her own that she wanted to make. She knew that Emma's shooting was big news in town, given her friend's status within the community. But it was unlikely that any of her friends outside of Storybrooke would know about what had happened.

Ruby knew that Emma had made a point of keeping in contact with the girls she'd met in person, at the Fairytales conventions she'd attended. She also knew that they would begin to worry, when they couldn't get in touch with their friend. Unfortunately, she didn't have all of the details she would have liked, for each of the people that had come to mean so much to her best friend. So Ruby placed calls to the only numbers that she had in her phone - the ones for Ashley, Belle and Regina.

While she hadn't been at the event that Emma and Ashley had first met at, her friend had suggested that they should all attend the first convention of the following year together in Vancouver, and had created a WhatsApp group for them to discuss their plans on. Ashley had quickly bonded with everyone else, to the point where Ruby found herself calling the girl a friend, even though they'd never met before.

However, no matter how hard she tried, getting anyone to answer her calls that afternoon proved difficult.

Belle was the first to pick up her phone on the third attempt, answering with a greeting of, "Hi Ruby. What's up?"

"Hey, Belle," she whispered back softly. "Do you have a moment free to chat?"

"I'm at work right now. Can it wait until I finish?"

Ruby so badly wanted to tell her friend that it absolutely could wait, because she didn't want to be the one to crush that bubbly tone behind Belle's voice. She'd already had to deliver the news of Emma's condition to Killian, and she really didn't want to be the one to deliver it to everyone else.

But she also didn't want them to find out through rumors published and spread online. Emma's friends deserved better than that.

"It's um… it's about Emma," she explained.

"Is everything okay?" Belle asked, her tone instantly switching to one filled with concern for their friend. "She didn't return my last message, but I just figured that she was busy with work."

"She um… she was shot on duty a couple of nights ago," Ruby replied robotically. It was the only way she could get that sentence out again, without her tears making it impossible to speak. "She's in the hospital here, but she's not in a good way right now. I thought you guys should know."

There was silence on the line for the longest moment, before the sound of Belle blowing her nose broke through it.

"Is she um… she's gonna be okay though, right?" she eventually asked.

"The doctors and nurses here are doing everything they can to make sure she will be," Ruby replied. She couldn't tell Belle that everything would be okay, when she didn't completely believe that promise herself.

"Is there anything I can do?" Belle's voice was so soft that Ruby had to strain to make out the words she was speaking.

"Could you um… would you mind telling the others?" she asked. She hated that she was palming off the responsibility onto Belle, of all people, but she really wanted to get back to Emma's side. And Ruby was starting to feel like every time she spoke those words, a little bit more of her hope died along with them.

"Of course not. Are you um… is someone with her?"

"Yeah. We don't like leaving her alone," she explained simply.

"Of course. Go be with Emma. Can I um… can I call you for updates?" Belle asked.

"I'll call you as soon as we know more," Ruby promised. "It's a bit of a waiting game right now."

"Thanks. And um… thanks for telling me. I know I haven't known her for long, but…"

"It's okay," Ruby cut her off. "I don't judge the quality of a friendship based on the length of time people have known each other for, and neither does Emma. She'd want you guys to know."

Ruby paused for a moment as she thought that statement over, before chuckling a little bitterly as she corrected herself. "Actually, she probably wouldn't. She wouldn't want to worry anyone unnecessarily. She's stubborn that way."

"Yeah, she is. But it's why we love her. She's always thinking of others."

* * *

"Hey," Killian whispered, as he pushed his way back into Emma's room in a fresh gown and a new pair of booties. "How is she?"

"No change," Mary-Margret replied sadly. She was sat in the second chair by Emma's side, while Ruby had perched herself on top of the table that had been moved to the wall opposite the bed. Even with Killian gone, they'd left his chair free for him. Neither of the women had felt comfortable taking the place that rightfully belonged to him.

"Hey, Sweetheart," he whispered, as he bent down to brush a kiss to Emma's forehead. The bruises and cuts already looked a little less angry with the hours that had passed, and seeing that progress filled him with some hope. Killian assumed that if the ones he could see were already starting to heal, then the ones that he couldn't see must be doing the same thing too.

"Sorry it took me so long to get back up here," he said a little louder, even though he kept his eyes focused on Emma's face. "I um… I had to call the network executives to enact the emergency clause in my contract."

"You're quitting?" Ruby worried, as she slid forward on the table a little.

"No. I just won't be on set until Emma wakes up again. They'll find a way to deal with the storyline to accommodate that. We have stand-ins and stuff they can use for shoots while I'm gone, and if it's necessary, they'll write Hook out for a while and then bring him back, when Emma's ready to travel."

"You'd really do that for her?" Mary-Margret wondered.

She wished she'd been able to see more of her friend's relationship with the actor while Emma had been conscious. So far, everything about Killian's actions had screamed that he was genuinely in love with her, and that he wasn't afraid to show it either. It was the complete opposite of how Neal had always treated her friend. Which made Mary-Margret wonder just how different Emma would act around someone who wasn't ashamed to show just how much they treasured her.

"Of course I would," he scoffed, finally tearing his eyes away from Emma's face, to level the other woman with a look that clearly communicated that he didn't appreciate her questioning his loyalty. "I love her. Would you want to be working twelve-hour days, on a set in another country, if it were _your_ husband in this bed?"

Mary-Margret conceded his point with a sharp nod of her head, as she tried to fight off the images that were creeping into her mind. It was bad enough seeing her friend in that position, she couldn't even begin to imagine how she would feel if it had been David on duty that evening.

The slightly tense atmosphere that was beginning to build in the room was broken when Doctor Whale made his way into it, with his white lab coat swishing around his legs as he walked. While the guy looked just as professional and put-together as he normally did, everyone could see the dark circles that were beginning to form under his eyes, hinting at the stress and exhaustion he was suffering from.

"How is everyone?" he asked, as he stopped at the bottom of the bed to grab Emma's chart.

"We'll be better when she is," Killian answered for them, because he knew that everyone else was feeling the same way he was, right then.

Whale hummed his agreement as he read through the notes that had been made overnight, before he set the chart back down again. "Janet said that she had explained to you about the wound in Emma's shoulder?" he asked, turning his attention Killian's way, as he reached for a pair of latex gloves.

"Yeah. She said you'd probably stitch it today when you were sure it wasn't infected."

Whale gently pulled back Emma's gown just far enough to get to the bandage covering the area, and then peeled it away to check the wound over himself. "Yes. It was just a precaution, but this is looking pretty good," he pointed out, as he examined the area around the open wound, and then the dressing itself.

"Janet's bringing everything I need to do that now, but I will need to ask you guys to step out of the room for a moment for me." Whale lifted his head to meet each of their gazes, knowing that none of them would be happy to hear that. "You can come back in as soon as I'm done, but I prefer not to be distracted while I work."

"Okay," Mary-Margret agreed quickly. "We'll wait right outside." As much as she hated the idea of having to leave Emma, she would do anything that was asked of her, if it would aid her friend's recovery.

Killian felt a little better about leaving Emma alone knowing that Whale and Janet would be in the room with her, while he couldn't be. But every second that passed as he paced outside of her door, felt like an agonizing eternity. He was worried that he would annoy the others with his restlessness, but the bounce of Ruby's leg against the floor, and the way that Mary-Margret tapped her nails against the counter, told him that they were both just as anxious to get back to their friend as he was.

Finally, after what felt like hours, Nurse Janet pulled open the door once more, leaving it wide in invitation as she told them, "You can go in now."

"Thank you," he whispered, before darting straight back into the room and over to Emma's side once more. "Hey, Beautiful," he greeted, as he bent over to brush a kiss to her forehead, while he pushed the hair back from her face. "I missed you."

After he took his seat again, and had picked up Emma's hand to hold tightly between his own, Killian noticed that the doctor was still in the room with them all, and his brow creased in confusion.

"Is there something wrong?" he worried.

"No," Doctor Whale replied simply. "Everything looks as good as can be expected right now."

Ruby shifted a little closer to him on the table as she dropped her head down to rest against his shoulder, while Whale wrapped his arm around her. They were both completely exhausted, but neither one of them was willing to give in to those feelings while Emma's life was still in danger.

The atmosphere in the room felt a little heavy, and Killian assumed that it was because of the question at the front of everyone's mind. The one that they had all been thinking since they'd heard about what had happened, but had been too scared to voice.

Killian wasn't ready to hear that question put into words, let alone the answer that would go with it. So instead, he whispered quietly, "Can she be moved to Vancouver? I know you mentioned transferring her to Boston for the surgery she needs on her pelvis, but can that be done in Vancouver?"

Ruby lifted her head as her boyfriend took a moment to consider his answer, before he spoke. She didn't want to see Emma leaving the country while she was still so badly injured, but she could understand Killian's desire to have her as far away from the town, and back somewhere he deemed safe, as soon as possible.

"Technically, you can legally request that she be transferred anywhere. But I wouldn't recommend it until she's had that surgery. The slightest trauma to her pelvis could result in serve complications. The pelvis protects things like the bladder and her reproductive organs, along with a number of blood vessels, nerves, muscles and ligaments. It's also connected to the bones in her upper legs; her hips; and of course, her lower spine. We don't want to risk doing _anything_ that could cause any more damage in those areas, and the longer the journey is, the more risk there is of something happening. I'd go with her to Boston and have the surgery there. Then, when Emma's awake and beginning to put some weight on that break, you can make the arrangements to take her home with you."

"How long will that take?" Ruby asked.

Nobody had really spoken about timeframes for Emma's recovery, and now that she was thinking about it, she was beginning to worry that it was because nobody believed her friend would ever recover from the injuries she had suffered.

"Full weight-bearing is usually advised at around the three-month mark."

"Three months?" she asked, a little hysterically. "It's gonna take her three-months to get out of that bed?"

"No. She'll be encouraged to move as soon as she can. But she'll be given crutches and walking aids to do that with, so she can keep the weight off the side of her pelvis where the break occurred," Whale explained.

Killian scrubbed a harsh hand over his face as he sank back into his chair. Three months would put them into the start of the new year. He'd need to ask the show to temporarily write him out, as there was no way he'd make it back in time to shoot for any of the episodes airing during the second half of the season. He'd also need to call his mam. He usually went home for the holidays, but there wasn't a chance in hell that he'd be leaving Emma alone in Boston, over the festive season that year.

Instead, he'd focus on finding a home close to the hospital that he could rent for the two of them to share, while she was recovering. He'd feel much better knowing that she was close to medical professionals, should she need their help. And he was certain that he would be able to find a way to make their first holiday season together special, even if they were away from their friends and family at the time.

"Killian?" Mary-Margaret called out softly.

"Yes?"

He snapped his eyes up to meet hers, and then realized that Whale was no longer in the room. His thoughts had spiraled, and had taken a good chunk of the afternoon along with them.

"I'm gonna take off and spend some time with David and Leo," she explained.

Mary-Margret felt guilty for wanting that time alone with her family, given everything her friend was going through. But she'd never wanted to be with her boys quite as much as she did right then. What had happened to Emma had taught her that life was not only short, but also unpredictable. She didn't want to miss out on precious moments with her husband and their son.

"Did you need me to bring you anything back at all? Do you have fresh clothes here?"

"Uh, yeah. I have a change in my bag," Killian mumbled, because he thought he could remember stuffing a pair of jeans and a t-shirt into his bag before he left. He just hoped that he'd grabbed clean clothes, and not whatever he'd found on the floor. "If not, I'll buy something new. I need to get a charger for my phone anyway."

"We have a spare at home. I'll bring it back for you," she promised.

Mary-Margret took a moment to pull Ruby in for a hug, whispering something softly into the other's woman's ear, before she released her to wrap her arms around Killian's shoulders. When she was finished with him, she pressed a brief kiss to Emma's cheek, before making her way out of the room and back home to her small family.

Which left Killian and Ruby alone again, with the person they both loved most in the world.

* * *

Ruby excused herself for dinner a little over an hour later, promising that she would be back soon, so that Killian could get himself something to eat. But he wasn't really sure he wanted anything.

It had been almost a day since he'd gotten her call, and so much had happened in that short space of time. He was starting to feel like he was drowning in an ocean of despair, and all he wanted was for Emma to open her eyes once more, just to provide him with some much needed relief from the darkness of his own mind.

"I miss you, Emma," he whispered quietly. "There's so much I want to talk to you about right now. I can't believe how much I miss hearing your voice. I didn't even know what it sounded like this time last year, and now… I can't imagine a future without that sound in my life."

"When you wake up, and when you're ready for it… I'm going to marry you, Emma Swan. You and me… there isn't a doubt in my mind that we were made for each other. And regardless of what your ex might believe, I think you know that too. I don't wanna waste any more of our time together. Not after this. I don't… I… I don't wanna have any regrets when it comes to you, my love."

He lifted her hand up to his face to press sweet kisses to the back of it, as he nuzzled his cheek against the coolness of her skin.

"I love you, Emma Swan."

* * *

Killian must have fallen asleep again at some point, as he woke to the sound of whispered voices in the room. When he carefully lifted his head, it was to find David and Ruby huddled together on the small bed, talking in soft voices as they attempted not to disturb him.

"Hey," Ruby called out softly, when her eyes finally met his. "Sorry. We didn't mean…"

"You didn't," he assured her, because Killian knew that it had been his own dreams, haunting him every time he closed his eyes, that had woken him. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. We were just talking about Leo," she assured him.

"My wife sent you these," David added, as he pointed to a few plastic bags that were sat on the bed beside him. "She said you'd need them."

Killian reluctantly let go of Emma's hand and stood to see what Mary-Margret had sent with her husband. He was hoping that she had remembered the spare charger, as his phone had died not long after his call to the studio, and Killian knew that he would need to call Robin at some point, just to explain what was going on.

But as he began rooting through the bags he realized that everything inside of them was brand-new. Emma's friend had been kind enough to purchase him some jeans and shirts, that were oddly the perfect size, along with a few packs of underwear. There were some essentials like deodorant; a toothbrush and toothpaste; and a comb for his hair in the bags too, along with a brand-new phone charger, and a handful of puzzle books.

He hadn't known the woman for long, but Mary-Margret had gone out of her way to make things as easy for him as she possibly could.

"Thank her for me, please?" he asked, as he pulled out the charger to plug his phone in. "And let me know how much I owe you for all of this."

"I'm sure she'll tell you not to worry," David chuckled. "But I'll pass along your thanks. Do you need anything else at all? I know you packed in a bit of a hurry."

"This will do me for now."

The room settled into a comfortable silence for a moment, the rhythmic sounds of the machines the only noise in the space, as the three friends each drifted with their own thoughts.

Killian left his phone off to one side to charge, before turning his attention back to Emma. He picked her hand up once more, and stroked his thumb softly over the back of her knuckles, as he settled himself into his chair as comfortably as he possibly could.

They'd all become so used to the regular beeps of the machines that when the pattern began to change, all three of their heads snapped up, to turn in the direction of the monitor.

"What's happening?" Ruby asked.

"Hit the call button," David declared. When nobody made a move, he yelled a little louder, "Hit the fucking call button."

Killian dropped his grip on Emma's hand to hit the button Janet had shown to him all those hours before, and wasn't surprised when the nurse herself came running into the room a few seconds later. She took a quick look at the monitors around Emma's bed, before calling over her shoulder, "Get Doctor Whale. Now!"

David pulled the chairs away from Emma's bed as Killian's snatched up the small bear he'd placed beside her, just in time for the two of them to be ushered out of the way, as a team of medical professionals descended upon the room.

"Oh God," Ruby whispered.

The beeping sounded faster and louder than it ever had before.

Whale practically ran through the open doorway, his coat billowing out behind him as his eyes flew around the room, taking in the situation.

"Her blood pressure's down and heart rate's up," Janet explained, over the sudden rush of noise that had filled the space.

Or perhaps it was just the blood roaring through his own system, that Killian could hear.

"She's going into shock," Whale declared.

"What?" Ruby shrieked.

"Get me an OR prepped. _Now_ ," he yelled, completely ignoring his girlfriend.

The people around Emma's bed began to move as one, quickly disconnecting things and moving others around, as they unlocked the wheels on her bed, to push it out of the small room.

"Victor," Ruby yelled, her own fear making her voice sound louder and harsher than Killian had ever heard it before. "What's happening?"

"Emma needs surgery," he explained quickly. "I'll explain everything when I'm done, but right now, I need to get her back into the OR to save her life."

He disappeared from the room before anyone could say anything else, leaving the three friends looking scared and confused, as they all tried to process everything that had just happened.

* * *

The next hour that passed was one of the longest of Killian's life. Another nurse had been in and asked the three of them to move to a small room, where they could wait together.

But nobody else had stopped by since then.

He'd eventually gotten so frustrated with the waiting that he'd taken to pacing the length of the room. A quick look around it showed that each of Emma's friends were also dealing with their nerves in their own ways. Ruby was picking the polish off her finger nails, as her leg bounced against the floor, while David tapped out patterns with his fingers on his legs.

Mary-Margret arrived as the evening turned to night, telling her husband that Granny had offered to watch Leo for them, as she fell into his arms sobbing once more.

Killian kept the small bear clutched tightly to his chest, as he whispered silent prayers into the animal's fur for Emma's safety. She'd been through so much already, and he knew that she had even more ahead of her, before she would be declared fully recovered. He hated seeing how much she was suffering, and he wished with every fiber of his being that he could take that pain from her.

* * *

When the door to the room finally opened once more to reveal Whale dressed in a pair of scrubs again, all eyes turned his way, silently begging him to deny their biggest fear.

"She's okay."

The energy seemed to drain out of Killian all at once, and he found himself dropping down to his knees on the rough carpet, as he used that small bear to hide his tears.

"She was bleeding internally, which is what caused the shock. It's unfortunately a common side effect from major surgery, and in particular, from a broken pelvis. Sometimes, it can take a while to present, but that's why we keep such a close eye on patients in Emma's condition. I was able to find the source and prevent the bleed fairly quickly, so there shouldn't be any lasting damage to her organs."

The room seemed to release a collective sigh at Whale's words. While everything he'd said still scared the hell out of each and every one of them, knowing that his team were working so hard to keep Emma alive gave them hope.

"Can we see her?" Killian asked.

"Someone will come and get you as soon as we have her settled back into her room," Whale promised. "But there's something I wanted to talk with you about first."

Killian's hands began to shake once more at the thought of what the good doctor could possibly reveal next. He felt as Ruby dropped down to sit beside him, before she wrapped her arm through his to offer him some form of comfort, as Killian took her hand into his own to squeeze tightly.

While David and Mary-Margret had each other to turn to for support, the two of them were very much alone with their fear. Whale was so busy working to make sure that Emma survived each night, he barely had any time to spend with his girlfriend. And Killian had nobody else in town to draw his strength from. So they made a silent pact there and then, to stick together as they remained by Emma's side.

"I've spoken with the orthopedic team in Boston," Whale began gently, as he took one of the free seats in the space. "With their input, we've come to the decision that a team will be travelling here from the city, at the start of the week, to perform the first of the surgeries that Emma will need to stabilize her pelvis," he explained. "We can't take the risk that these episodes could end up causing any more damage, and it's unlikely that she will be fit enough to travel any time soon. She's lost far too much blood for that to happen. We want to get that first surgery done and out of the way while she's still unconscious, as it will help with both her pain management, and the timing of her recovery."

"So, she's not going to Boston?" Killian asked.

"She will need to go eventually, yes. I'm afraid Emma has a few more surgeries ahead of her, before she'll be back on the road to recovery. But for now, it's important that we get this pelvic break fixed, so it can begin to heal."

Everyone in the room nodded their understanding. While none of them knew anything about medicine, they trusted that Whale would keep Emma's best interests at the front of his mind, with every decision that he made. So if he felt this surgery was better happening sooner rather than later, they would support his choice.

"Hang in there guys," he offered, as he stood once more. "She's fighting hard."

Whale left the room without another word, looking thoroughly exhausted as he made his way through the corridors, and back to his office to spend a second night on the sofa inside of it. He knew that his words probably wouldn't offer his friends much comfort that evening.

But in that moment, they were all he had to offer them.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing. Special thanks go to spicyftblplayer, Alexa, Luna and the other Guests for their wonderful reviews.**

 **And to the one guest who reviewed every single chapter last week with the same messages, I have a small piece of advice for you. Telling someone that they, "need" to update faster, won't make that happen. Please have some patience. I refuse to publish what I'm unhappy with, and I have a life to work my fanfiction around. It's easy to say publish faster, but it's not easy to do in practice. If my update schedule is too slow for you, you may wish to wait until the story is complete to read it.**


	38. Chapter 38

It was the early hours of the morning before Janet returned once more to escort them back to Emma's room. Mary-Margret and David didn't stay long, before taking off to relieve Granny of babysitting duties. But they had both felt the need to wait until they'd seen Emma alive and breathing once more for themselves, before they left. Ruby stayed a little longer, just watching over her friend with soft eyes, before she finally took her leave when she couldn't stop yawning.

Which left Killian alone with the woman he loved once more.

"You scared the hell out of me tonight," he told Emma quietly, as he brushed his thumb softly over her knuckles. "I'd really appreciate it if you didn't do that again, Sweetheart. I'm gonna go prematurely grey soon." He chuckled a little bitterly before adding, "I love you, Emma. I know that right now, this is the best thing for you. But I uh… I really need you to start healing soon. I um… I'm scared Emma. I'm scared of losing you. I'm scared of what losing you will do to me. I just… I really need you to get better for me. Okay?"

He sat for a moment longer, just watching as the machines did their thing, while he reassured himself that even though she was deathly still, Emma was in there. And she was fighting her way back to him.

* * *

When Ruby and Granny arrived the next morning with breakfast, they found Killian curled up on the edge of his own small bed, fast asleep with the stuffed bear clutched tightly to his chest.

Neither of them knew the significance of that little toy, but they both knew that something else had happened that had caused him to purchase it. Something they didn't know about, and probably never would.

Instead of waking Emma's boyfriend, Granny sat a bag of food down on the side for him while Ruby scribbled out a quick note, before they headed down to the small café. They knew that Killian hadn't been sleeping well since he had arrived in town, and neither one of them wanted to deny him what little reprieve he could find, from the torment he was currently suffering.

So they ate a barely-edible breakfast together while they waited for him to wake, just talking about anything and everything unrelated to the friend they loved, who was currently fighting for her life. When Ruby's phone eventually pinged with a message from an unknown number, that simply read, **thanks for the food. x** ,they headed back up to the ICU once more.

"Hey, how is she?" Ruby asked, as they pushed back into the room, each dressed in a new gown and pair of booties.

"No change," Killian explained. "They uh… they gave her another transfusion last night, though. Janet said they want her to be as strong as possibly for Monday afternoon. The procedure isn't a massively dangerous one, but any kind of surgery carries a risk."

The two women nodded their understanding as Ruby took a seat on top of the table once more, leaving Granny free to use the chair beside Emma's bed.

"How are you holding up?" she asked the actor quietly, as she pulled out the daily paper to flick through. Emma's shooting was once again headline news, but she'd removed those pages the moment the publication had been pushed through her mailbox.

Nobody needed that kind of inaccurate reminder of what was going on.

"I'm okay."

"Are you?" Those two small words seemed to carry so much weight in the silence of the room.

"I have to be," Killian explained. "Emma's gonna need me more than she ever has before, when she wakes up."

"That doesn't mean you can't be okay right now." The older women folded her paper and set it down on her lap, as she turned to face the young man sat beside her. The one who had barely slept since his arrival in town, and hadn't left the hospital grounds at all. "It's alright to admit that you're not okay right now, Killian. Lord knows I'm not. I've watched that girl grow up from a scared, skittish teenager into the beautiful woman she is now. And I'm scared out of my mind that I won't get to see her marry you, or have a family of her own. Every night I worry myself to sleep over thoughts of never seeing her truly settle down, for the very first time in her life. Admitting that doesn't make me weak. It makes me human. I know you don't know us well, so you're probably hiding a lot of what you feel right now. But I wanted you to know that we're _all_ here for you, Killian. So… it's okay not to be alright."

"Thank you," he whispered softly. Because while he wasn't yet ready to fully open up about how he felt, he appreciated that even with everything happening to Emma right then, her friends still found the time and compassion to care about his own wellbeing.

* * *

Granny left to open the diner an hour or so later, and Killian offered to walk her out. He wanted to call his mother and let her know about what had happened with Emma, but he knew that there was another call he needed to place first.

After a quick hug with the older woman, he detoured around to the spot behind the building that would allow him some form of privacy, without having to leave the grounds. He hesitated for a moment over which number to dial first, before finally settling on the one that he'd already received three missed calls from.

"Killian? What the hell is going on?" Robin demanded, the moment he picked up. "There are rumors going around set that you're not coming back for a while."

"Hey, Mate." Killian slid down the wall to sit on the floor, as he searched for an easy way to break the news to his friend. But nothing was coming to him. "The uh… the rumors are right. I'm not coming back any time soon," he said instead.

"What the hell? Why not? You're locked into a contract, Killian. They could fire you for this."

"They won't," he reassured his friend. "Compassionate leave is permitted."

"Compassionate leave? What the hell happened?" Robin's entire tone seemed to shift at the words. He was likely already considering the worst possible situations that could require his friend invoking the emergency clause in his contract.

"You remember what Emma does for a living, right?"

"Of course. You weren't exactly shy about how sexy you found it," his friend teased, as Killian's gut sunk a little further.

Because there was absolutely nothing sexy about the situation he'd found himself in.

"She was shot," he whispered quietly into the line. "Three times. She's um… she's fighting for her life right now, and I'm not going anywhere until she's ready to come with me."

"Fuck me."

Robin said nothing else as he allowed Killian's words to sink in. Even while his mind had been busy conjuring up every worst-case scenario at the words 'compassionate leave,' he'd never in a million years have thought that a possibility.

"What um… how… how is she?" he eventually asked. Because he wasn't really sure what else to say in that moment.

"She uh… she's not good," Killian replied honestly. There wasn't really any other way to explain the situation. "The smallest injury was to her shoulder. But the bullet damaged the muscle there, so Whale isn't sure she'll ever be able to regain full use of that arm again."

"Fuck me," Robin muttered again, because as far as he was concerned, that wasn't a small injury.

"Another broke one of her ribs and punctured her lung. And the last one broke her pelvis and ripped through her uterus, before it settled close to her spine."

"Jesus Christ, Killian."

"She um… she's had surgery. Lots of surgery to try and fix the injuries, but a lot of it could leave lasting damage." Killian screwed his eyes shut tight against the tears that were forming once more, at the thought of just how lasting that damage could be for the woman he loved.

"Fuck. Is um…. Is there anything I can do?" Robin asked, his voice cracking a little with his own emotions. While he and Emma might not have gotten off to the best start back in Chicago, he knew that she didn't deserve what had happened to her.

Hell, nobody deserved that.

"Thanks, Mate. But right now, the only people who can help have medical degrees. We uh… there are specialists coming down from Boston on Monday to perform the first surgery she needs, to fix the damage to her pelvis."

"Do you um… do you need someone with you?" Robin worried.

He was trying hard not to imagine how he would have felt if it were Marian in that position, because just the thought of something happening to his wife was like a knife to his heart. But he knew that he'd want all of the support he could get, if he ever found himself in that situation.

"I'm okay," Killian assured his friend. "I have Ruby and the others here to keep me company. The guys will need you on set with me gone. I don't wanna make thing any more difficult for them."

"Nobody's gonna give a fuck about that, Killian. If you need someone to lean on, I can get the next flight out there."

"Thanks. But I promise, as of right now, I'm okay," he reassured Robin. "I spend most of my time with Emma anyway. But I'll call if that changes."

Killian knew that the chances of that happening were slim, but he also knew that his friend would feel better hearing his empty promise.

"Okay. Well… you can call me anytime you need to. No matter what time of the day it is. I'm always here for you, Mate."

"Thanks."

* * *

When he returned to Emma's room, Killian wasn't surprised to find Mary-Margret inside of it, talking with Ruby about the new word that Leo had spoken that morning.

"Will I ever get to meet the little lad?" he asked quietly, as he made his way over to Emma to press a kiss to her forehead, before he took his own seat once more.

"Of course," Mary-Margret said. "He already knows his Aunty Emma, so it's only fair that he should get a chance to meet his Uncle Killian too."

He chuckled slightly at the term 'Uncle Killian.' He'd certainly heard it plenty of times before in his life, what with his brother already having a family of his own. But it was one he hadn't considered hearing as a result of his relationship with Emma.

He'd seen a few pictures of her with Leo since they'd started dating, and there were even more on her Facebook profile. She clearly loved the little boy and the role she had in his life. But he wondered how she'd feel about becoming an aunt to his nephews, and how the boys would react to suddenly meeting a new member of their family.

The warm feeling that was beginning to spread through his chest at the realization of just how good she was with children, died instantly when he remembered Whale's words from earlier that week. It was obvious now that he thought about it just how much Emma loved children, and how much Leo seemed to love her. The idea of his nephews not liking her was absolutely preposterous. She would charm them instantly, of that he was certain. But when she woke, Emma would be faced with the news that it might never be possible for her to have a child of her own.

Killian knew for certain that it would be _that_ piece of news, that would devastate her the most.

Logically, he understood that there were other avenues they could explore in their future. Surrogacy was an option, as was adoption. But right then, the idea that he might never get to see the woman he loved pregnant with their child, felt like a crushing blow to his heart.

"Are you okay?" Mary-Margret asked softly, as she reached over to rub his arm soothingly, pulling Killian out of his thoughts and back to the present.

"Yeah. Sorry. I just got lost in my mind," he explained, as he sank back into his seat.

Killian missed the look the two women shared as he turned his attention back to Emma.

* * *

The rest of his Saturday seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace.

When Mary-Margret left to meet her husband and son for lunch, Killian snuck out for a moment to grab himself something to eat, while he called his mother. He wanted to let her know how Emma was doing, and promised to call again the following day, regardless of the progress she made. When he returned, Ruby took off for her own lunchbreak with Doctor Whale, before returning a little over an hour later.

David arrived sometime in the early afternoon and stayed until the evening, before leaving to help put his son to bed and spend some time with his wife. Ruby finally left just before midnight, pressing a kiss to Emma's cheek, and then to Killian's, before promising she'd be back in the morning.

It was an easy routine for them to slip into, and one that absolutely everybody wished they'd never had to develop.

But throughout it all, Killian's presence by Emma's side never wavered. When he absolutely had to leave her, he did so for as little time as possible, eager to get back to her side just in case she woke earlier than expected. Because he knew that if their situations had been reversed, he would want her face to be the first thing he saw, when his eyes finally opened.

* * *

When Killian woke on Sunday morning, for one brief moment he forgot everything that was going on in his life. The dream he'd had of himself and Emma, on-board a private yacht somewhere in the Mediterranean, was still fresh in his mind. Along with the blissfully happy feeling it had brought with it.

But it was the rhythmic beeping of the heart monitor beside her bed that brought him crashing back down to earth, and back to the reality of their current situation.

"Hey, Sweetheart," he whispered, as he slid off the bed and padded over to the chair beside her own. "I had the best dream last night. You and I were alone together on a boat, in the middle of the ocean. It was just the two of us, enjoying each other's company. Mostly naked," he added, with a wry chuckle.

Killian picked up the hand closest to him to brush his lips over her knuckles. "As soon as you're up for it, I'm gonna make that dream a reality. I'll hire the biggest and best boat I can find, maybe even take some sailing lessons. Then we can spend some time at sea. I'm sure you could talk me into borrowing Hook's costume from work for it too."

He bent forward to brush his lips over her brow, before pushing himself up to stand once more. He needed to use the bathroom and at the very least brush his teeth, before the others arrived. A change of clothes would probably stop Ruby from nagging him about going back to the apartment to shower and sleep for a while too.

But when he made it back to Emma's room, it was to find a team once more disconnecting the wires and monitors around her bed.

"What's going on?" Killian demanded, his heart already beginning to pound in his torso.

"We're just taking her down for a chest x-ray," one of the nurses explained. "Doctor Whale wants to keep an eye on her lungs, after what happened. That way, we can remove her chest tube as soon as its possible, to avoid the risk of infection."

"Oh thank god," he mumbled, clutching the doorframe for support. His mind had gone straight to the worst case scenario, and the relief at not receiving bad news in that moment was overwhelming.

"Why don't you go and get some breakfast, Honey? She'll be back soon enough."

Killian didn't like the idea of leaving. He wasn't sure how long it would take for the x-ray, and he didn't want Emma returning to an empty room. But he could tell that the tone behind the nurse's idea was more of an order, than it was a suggestion. So he quickly bent to brush his lips to Emma's forehead, telling her, "I love you," before he watched the team wheel her out of the room once more.

After sending them a quick text message, Ruby and Granny joined Killian in the small café a few moments later. They both looked completely exhausted from the long hours they had been keeping, but they had a smile for their friend as they slipped into the free seats around the table.

Granny had smuggled some of her own pastries into the building, as she swore the ones served in the café were days old. And the three of them had shared a giggle over her ways, while they waited for Emma's x-ray to be completed.

The thought of that one small tube being removed from her body felt like a tiny victory, and Killian found himself hoping that the x-ray would show her lungs were clear enough for that to happen.

* * *

When the hour had finally passed, the three of them made their way up to the ICU together, slipping on new gowns and booties before they carried on down to the room that Emma had been recovering inside of.

Killian wasn't surprised to see her bed already back in its place, but he was a little shocked to find Whale sat beside it, in the chair that Ruby usually occupied.

"I know you don't like leaving her alone," he explained with a small shrug, as he stood to greet his girlfriend. After pressing a sweet kiss to Ruby's lips, he turned back to face the room. "I just wanted to let you guys know that while we're not quite ready to remove the chest tube yet, the x-rays are looking good. I'm really pleased with what we're seeing there."

"When do you think it will come out?" Ruby asked.

"By the end of the week," he replied. "I'm pretty confident about that."

The three friends exchanged small looks with each other, acknowledging just how big that moment would feel, as they breathed a collective sigh of relief.

"The surgeons from Boston have arrived today. They're getting settled into their hotel room as we speak, and then I'll be offering them a small tour of the hospital so they know where everything is. Tomorrow morning, they'll come in and explain to you what it is that they're going to do, and how that will help Emma."

"Thank you."

Killian really appreciated that Whale was taking the time to explain everything to them. While it didn't stop him from worrying about the woman he loved completely, it did help to ease a few of his fears of the unknown.

"You're welcome. I have rounds to do, but I'll be back to check on her soon," Whale promised, before slipping out of the room.

* * *

"So, tell me about Vancouver," Ruby asked, when they were alone once more.

While most of their time in Emma's room had been spent in tense silence, when the worry wasn't so overwhelming, Ruby and Killian had spent their time trying to get to know each other a little better. They both knew how much the other meant to Emma, so the friendship they were fast forming was important to them.

"It um… it reminds me a little of home," Killian replied softly. "There are a couple of months of the year where it gets really warm and dry. But most of the time it's quite wet. They get a lot more snow than we used to back in Ireland, though. My nephews would love it there. They've never seen a white Christmas before."

"Maybe you should bring them out for the holidays one year?" Ruby suggested.

"Yeah. Maybe. I was um… I was thinking of looking for a new place when I went back," he mumbled quietly. "Emma's um… I'm not sure an apartment building would be the best place for her to recover in. I was thinking of finding a small house we could call home. That might make things a little easier on her."

Ruby leaned over to squeeze Killian's arm softly, as she explained, "Emma won't want you to go to any special trouble for her, Killian. But as her best friend, I love you a little more for wanting to."

"I'm sorry for taking her away from you," he whispered into his lap. "I know she loves this town, and the people in it. I just…"

"I get it," she stated emotionlessly. "Someone tried to kill her here. As much as I love her, I don't want her staying in this town if it means she could get hurt again. Or worse."

Those last two words had them both swallowing back tears once more as they realized just how close they had come to losing Emma.

"As long as you don't mind me coming and crashing on your sofa every few months, I'm fully in camp move-her-away-from-town-as-soon-as-possible."

"You know, I have frequent flyer miles _and_ a spare room," Killian teased softly. "Vancouver's a big city too. If you ever wanted to move out of Storybrooke, you should consider it."

"A couple of months ago, I would have taken you up on that offer," Ruby chuckled. "But now… I can't leave Granny here alone, and Mary-Margret needs someone to drag her out of the house every now and then, or she'll become a hermit."

The two of them giggled a little at that statement. Killian might not have known the women for long, but he knew that Ruby was the more sociable one of their friendship group.

"And then there's Victor… But if any of that changes, you can bet your fine ass I'll be on the first flight out there."

"We'll come back often," Killian promised. "Emma doesn't want to lose you guys. We just… being apart was tough before this happened. I can't even leave the fucking hospital grounds right now, I'm not sure how I'd survive weeks without seeing her again."

"It's okay," Ruby soothed. "We get it. None of us are going to be angry about this, Killian. We all understand."

* * *

When David arrived a few hours later, it was with the news that Detective Roberts was once again waiting in the café, with a few updates on Emma's case. Ruby and Killian swallowed back their fear at what the investigation may have turned up, as they said a quick hello to Mary-Margret and then slipped from the room to follow her husband downstairs.

Detective Roberts looked just as severe as she had before, as she stood to shake each of their hands, before gesturing to the seats around the table.

"Thank you both for meeting with me again," she began. "I know this is a difficult time for you."

"Have you found anything?" Killian asked. He wasn't much in the mood for pleasantries. He just wanted some answers.

"As we expected, evidence at the scene is sparse, I'm afraid. There's nothing there we can use to tie to anyone to the shooting, at the moment."

Killian and Ruby's hearts sank a little, even though they had both been expecting Roberts's answer. Having the person responsible for hurting Emma behind bars would go a long way towards easing both of their fears.

"However, the scrapings that were taken from under the Sheriff's nails do contain DNA traces. We're running them through our system now, but so far, there haven't been any hits."

"What does that mean?" Ruby asked, sliding forward a little in her seat.

"It means a couple of things," Roberts explained patiently. "If the person who attacked Emma is already in the system, then we'll be able to match their DNA and make an arrest. If the individual isn't, it means that when we do have a suspect, we can get a warrant for their DNA to see if it matches the scrapings taken from under the Sheriff's nails."

"So… this is only helpful if the person is already a convict, or if you come up with a suspect?" Killian asked.

There were an awful lot of _ifs_ in that sentence he'd just spoken, and he didn't like that one bit.

"Yes," Roberts sighed. "But this is a step forward. It might not seem like it now, but this is a good thing. DNA evidence is incredibly compelling for a jury at trial."

"Yeah. But you need a suspect first," he pointed out. "And as you've just said, there's nothing at the scene that is pointing you to anyone. So until you come up with a name, this is essentially useless, right?"

"Killian," David warned, because he could sense the tension growing in the man sat opposite him.

"I'm sorry, David, but this isn't reassuring at all," he explained, as his temper began to rise. "You're basically saying that you have no idea who did this to Emma, and that the evidence you do have all hinges upon that knowledge. How am I supposed to feel reassured after hearing that?"

"I know it's not positive right now. But this is something. This is a small victory for us."

"No. A small victory will be when that tube comes out of Emma's chest. Another will be when her broken pelvis is set so she can walk again. _This_ isn't a victory. This is just another block in the fucking road. Someone tried to kill her," Killian snarled. "This wasn't an accident. This was a targeted attack on the woman I love. So don't you dare tell me this is a victory when the person who did this to her is still walking around this fucking town, without a care in the world, while I sit beside her bed praying to every god out there that her fucking heart doesn't stop beating again."

He pushed away from the table aggressively before storming out of the café once more, as he tried to hide the tears that were building behind his eyes.

David and Ruby were less successful.

* * *

When Killian woke on Monday morning it was with a nervous kind of energy buzzing around his body. He knew that the surgery Emma was to undergo that afternoon was crucial to her recovery. But he also knew that surgery was never risk-free, and he couldn't help but feel anxious about what the rest of the day would hold.

It seemed like Emma's friends had felt the same way, as they stopped by much earlier that morning to spend what precious little time they could with their friend, before they were pulled away by their own life commitments.

Ruby and Mary-Margret both stayed, wanting to meet the surgical team that would be performing the procedure on their friend. But instead of the usual light chatter that filled Emma's room, a tense silence took its place.

When Whale finally knocked softly on the door, before entering with two men behind him that none of them recognized, the tension inside the room seemed to amplify.

"Morning," he offered softly. "I wanted to introduce you to Doctors Griffin and Smith."

The two men gave the three friends a soft smile, as one of them reached for the chart at the end of Emma's bed to flick through it, while the other stepped forward ever so slightly.

"I'm Doctor Smith," he explained, "And I'm going to be performing Emma's surgery today. I wanted to take a moment to explain the procedure to you guys before we went ahead with it, because I know that the unknown can be scary for friends and family."

Killian already liked the guy for that small sentiment. He might not have known anything about medicine, but he wanted to know anything and everything that was happening to Emma, and how she could be helped.

Smith's colleague reached forward to hand him a large file, and the other doctor paused for a moment to flick through it, before he pulled out what looked to be an x-ray film.

"This is Emma's pelvis," he explained, as he held the image up to the light. "As you can see, there's a break at the front of the pelvic ring which was caused by the bullet, and then another on her left ilium. This was more likely caused by the fall she took after the bullet hit her. We call this kind of injury an unstable break, because of the displacement with the bone." He stopped for a moment to point out the ends of the bone fragments on the image. "As you can see, they don't line up," Smith explained. "Which means we can't rely upon a non-surgical method for repair."

The three friends in the room nodded their understanding. What Smith had said so far made sense to them, even with their limited medical knowledge.

"Now, what we're going to do today is called an external fixation. And it looks just as scary as it sounds, but I promise it's not."

Killian swallowed heavily as his mind immediately began racing with ideas of just how scary that procedure could be.

"We're going to make small incisions in the skin and muscle around Emma's pelvis, to insert some screws into the bone. Those screws will protrude from Emma's skin, I'm afraid."

"Oh God," Mary-Margret gasped, because none of them had expected that.

"I know," Smith rushed to reassure her. "It sounds horrifying, I know that. But I promise it's not. What we do is we attach carbon fiber bars to those screws, to hold the bone in place. And we put those on the _outside_ of the body, because there simply isn't enough room inside for that to happen. Now, those bars will act like a frame to keep everything in place and stable, until we can perform the next procedure."

"And uh… what happens then?" Killian asked. His mind was already a jumble of information, but while he had the specialists in the room, he wanted to get as much out of them as possible.

"When the bones have begun to heal, we can assess the situation further. There might not be a need for any further procedures. However, it's likely that we may have to insert some more screws just to keep the bone in place. Think of this as a temporary fix, just to minimize the damage that's already been done, and to prevent the risk of more internal bleeding."

"Okay."

Smith leaned forward to squeeze Killian's shoulder firmly, as he passed the x-ray image back to Griffin. "I promise, as scary as this sounds, this is what's best for Emma."

"I believe that."

Killian knew that Whale was making sure she was getting the best possible treatment. So he knew that the team would only be acting with her recovery in mind.

"I um… I won't be involved in the procedure," Whale added. "But I will be in the operating theatre the entire time. I promise you Killian, we're gonna do everything in our power to make sure she's back in this room with you by the end of the day."

Smith nodded his head in agreement and the room fell silent for a moment, before he spoke up again. "I um… I will have to enforce stricter rules here when she's out of surgery, though. I'm sorry, but the chance of infection increases with external fixation, so you won't be able to spend the night here until we remove those screws."

Killian scrubbed a harsh hand over his face. He wasn't sure he'd be able to force himself to leave Emma's room at the end of the day. Especially with her having just been through major surgery. And he knew that he absolutely couldn't return to her bed without her.

"You can stay with us," Mary-Margret offered, having guessed where his thoughts had gone. "We have a spare room."

"Thank you," he told her. "But you have Leo. I don't wanna get in the way."

"It's fine," she chuckled, as she reached up to dry her eyes. "He'll love having his Uncle Killian in the house. I'm sure of it."

The two women reached out for each of his hands, squeezing them softly in solidarity as Killian thanked every god he knew of for their kindness.

"Okay," Smith declared eventually, drawing all eyes in the room back to him. "We're going to make a start on the preparations for this afternoon. The nursing team will move Emma back down to the OR at around two _pm_. That should give you all time to say a temporary goodbye. And I'll be back as soon as the procedure is over, to let you know how it went."

"Thank you," Ruby offered. "We appreciate how open and honest you've been with us today."

"We've all been on the other side. It's only fair."

Smith and Griffin left without another word, and Whale followed close behind them.

* * *

Ruby and Mary-Margret placed a couple of quick calls to let the others know what was happening, and before Killian knew it, Emma's room was once again filled with the people who loved her most.

David wished his friend and sheriff good luck, before bending to press a kiss to her forehead. When he left her room that afternoon it was with Killian's bags in his hands, and a promise that he would take them back to the house, before returning to join the others as they waited together through Emma's procedure.

Granny was the next to say her own piece, whispering something about how she would make sure that Emma had a grilled cheese and onion rings the moment she woke up, before she too pressed her own kiss to the young girl's forehead, and slipped quietly from the room.

Killian waited until everyone else had whispered their own versions of good luck to Emma, before he stepped forward to do the same. He was so focused on the woman he loved that he didn't notice that they had all left the room, to offer him some privacy to say his own piece.

"I'm not gonna tell you good luck," he began softly, "because I don't want to think about the consequences of the alternative. I um… instead, I'm just gonna let you know that I'll be downstairs in the waiting room. I'm not going anywhere, Emma. I'll be right here for you, and as soon as the doctors says I can come back up, I'll be by your side once more. I love you, Emma Swan. So stay strong for me, okay? You've got this. I know you have. And I'll um… I'll see you again in a few hours."

He bent to press a kiss to the corner of her mouth just as the door opened once more. When Killian pulled back to wipe his eyes dry with the back of his arm, one of the nurse smiled sadly in his direction.

"She's in great hands," she promised, as a few other members of staff followed her into the room, to begin the process of moving Emma back down to the operating theatre. "Doctor Whale won't leave her side."

"Thank you."

The thought of a familiar face being in that room with Emma reassured Killian more than he thought it would. He might not have known much about Whale, but he knew that he trusted the guy to do whatever it took to save Emma's life.

He'd have to buy him a beer… or a house… when Emma was awake once more, just to show Victor how much he appreciated everything that the guy was doing for them.

"I love you," he whispered to Emma once last time, before letting go of her hand to watch as the staff wheeled her from the room, and down the empty corridor.

"Come on," Ruby offered, as she wrapped her arm through his to squeeze it firmly. "Let's go downstairs and get comfortable. We'll just be in the way up here."

Killian didn't say anything else. Instead, he allowed Emma's friend to guide him out of the ICU, and down towards the small waiting room that he'd spent so many agonizing hours inside of, that very first night.

Only this time, when Ruby pushed opened the door to let them in, there was already a familiar face sat inside of it.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	39. Chapter 39

**Sorry for the delay with this one. Life got in the way, as it tends to do.**

 **WARNING - This chapter does deal with the loss of a child, and the emotional fallout of that. If this is something that you're not comfortable reading but you still wish to read the chapter, I've marked where the section begins and ends with this CSCSCSCS There's only 1 in this chapter. If you wish to skip over this update completely I would fully understand that. Please make your choices based on what is best for you personally.**

* * *

"Mam?"

"Oh, Sweetheart," Sinéad sighed, as she pushed up from her seat to pull her son in for the tightest of hugs.

The moment Killian felt the familiar warmth and comfort of his mother's embrace wrapped around him, was the moment he broke. He dropped down to the hard floor beneath them both, taking her with him, as he sobbed loudly into her shoulder.

"Oh, Honey," she whispered. "I'm sorry it took me so long to get here."

Sinéad said nothing more as she held her son tightly while he cried out all of his fears and heartache from the past few days. From the corner of her eye she noticed the people who had been stood just behind him when he entered the room, slip away quietly from it to give them both some privacy. But she kept most of her focus on the young man in her arms, who would always be her little boy, regardless of how old he was.

When Killian's loud sobs finally calmed to hiccupping breaths, she pulled back to get a good look at his face. She'd seen her son looking tired before, after long transatlantic flights home, and through video links after gruelling working hours. But she'd never seen the kind of bone-deep exhaustion on his features, as he was carrying that afternoon.

"What are you doing here?" he eventually asked, as he pushed himself back up to his feet, and then offered his mother a hand to help her up from the floor.

"You needed me, Killian. Where else would I be?"

He chuckled a little as he dropped down into one of the free seats in the room, before carding his hands through his hair. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming when I called?"

"Because you'd have told me not to," Sinéad replied honestly, as she took her seat beside him and reached for his nearest hand. "You're bloody stubborn at times. Just like your father."

She ran a gentle hand over his hair, helping to smooth down the errant strands that never seemed to do as they were told, whilst also helping to soothe some of his fears as she asked, "Now, how is Emma doing?"

"They uh… they've just taken her down for surgery. Again."

"On her pelvis, right?" Sinéad clarified.

"Yeah. They're um… they're fitting some screws in the bone, which they're gonna attach to bars _outside_ of her body, to help stabilize the breaks while they heal."

"That's good," she assured him. "It's good that they're doing that. I asked a nurse friend of mine back home about it, and she said that pelvic breaks were normally very painful. So at least Emma's not going to be suffering through that when she wakes up."

Killian nodded his agreement but said nothing else. His mind was still stuck on how horrific everything would look when she was finally out of the operating room once more.

"And how about you?" his mother asked. "How are you doing?"

"I'm okay," he told her. But at her unamused look, he chuckled a little bitterly before correcting himself. "Alright, I'm not okay. But I'm not really the person we should all be focusing on right now."

"I disagree. And I think Emma would too. You might not be physically suffering the way she is at the moment, but you're suffering emotionally, Honey. And those kinds of wounds can leave scars of their own. You might not be ready to talk about it all right now, but I'll be here for as long as you need me, so we can talk when you are."

"What about Dad?" he worried.

"Your father's a fully grown man. It's about time he learned how to take care of himself," Sinéad explained.

"You won't be saying that if you go home and he's burned the house down."

"If your father knows what's good for him, he'll have any damage to the house fixed by the time my plane lands."

Killian laughed genuinely for what felt like the first time in months at his mother's words. Everyone in the family knew just how fierce the woman could be. For someone so small, she held a lot of power over every single one of the Jones men.

After a moment of tense silence, Sinéad felt her son's body shift a little in the seat beside hers, and she watched as he slid his free hand into his pocket, before pulling it out with something small and fluffy-looking gripped tightly in his palm.

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"Is that…"

"Yeah," he whispered into the room. "I dunno why I bought it. After Whale told me what had happened, I suddenly found myself in the gift shop. I was um… I was looking at this wall full of stuff for celebrating the birth of a new baby, and all… all I could think about was how instead of picking out something for our child _there,_ we'd have to pick out a casket to bury her in. And I… I just… I guess I just… I dunno. I just… I thought about the idea of having to bury our child, and I just… I just didn't wanna bury her alone, Mam. Silly, huh?"

"Not at all," his mother assured him, as she reached out to take the small bear from his hand. It wasn't anything special. There were no identifying marks, or special features to the bear. It wasn't from a sought-after brand, or based on a popular character. It was just an ordinary stuffed teddy bear. But the meaning behind its purchase carried so much weight. "That was a wonderful thing to do for your child."

"If um… If Emma wants to do the cremation thing instead, do you think we could put this in with the baby?" he wondered. "I just… I don't like the thought of my little Angel being alone anymore. She's already down there on her own, and I hate the thought of that, Mama."

"I'm sure they could," Sinéad assured him. "Would you like me to start looking into some options for you? That way, you'll have some answers to give to Emma when she wakes up."

Killian nodded his agreement, as he didn't trust his voice in that moment.

"Do you want me to see if one of the doctors will take the bear down to be with your little one now?"

"Whale's with Emma. We don't like leaving her alone," he explained. He wasn't entirely sure just how many people in the hospital knew about the full extent of their circumstances. And he wasn't ready for that news to leak before Emma had heard it herself.

"Then we'll ask Doctor Whale when he comes back out again," she promised him.

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"Thanks, Mam."

Killian dropped his head down onto her shoulder as he squeezed his eyes shut, to fight back his tears once more.

"Thanks for coming," he eventually whispered. But it was said so softly that he wasn't sure his mother would even hear him.

* * *

Killian wasn't surprised to find the others sat around a couple of small tables in the familiar café, but he was shocked to find that they had left two empty seats pulled up to one, ready for himself and his mother to fill.

"Do you want a coffee?" David asked, as soon as he spotted his friend. "I was just going for refills."

"Uh, please." He fished his wallet out of his back pocket and handed David a bunch of notes, before stuffing it back inside. The Nolans had gone out of their way to help him feel welcome since he had arrived in town, so the least that Killian could do was buy them some coffee every now and then. "Mam?"

"Black for me, please," she replied softly, as she watched the man and his wife nod their understanding, before heading for the small counter. Which left two women sat around the table. One was clearly older than she was, and looked to be busy knitting some kind of blanket, while the other appeared to be around Killian's age.

"Mam, this is Emma's best friend Ruby, and her grandmother. I uh… I don't actually know her name though," he suddenly realized, as he turned to face the elderly woman. "We just sort of all call her Granny. I never really questioned that before."

"Everybody does," Granny assured him, as she waved away his concerns. "It's lovely to meet you, Mrs. Jones."

"You too."

The two women briefly shook hands before Sinéad sank down into the seat next to her son's, and watched as the young woman beside him leaned over to whisper something comforting, as she gave his arm a reassuring squeeze.

"Thanks for coming, Mrs. Jones," Ruby offered softly, when she'd finished speaking with Killian. "I know that Emma would appreciate you being her for her man. Even if she would hate having so many people make a fuss over her."

"Oh she would, wouldn't she?" Granny chuckled. "I can see her now, telling everyone she's absolutely fine the moment she wakes up. That girl hates feeling like she's being a burden to anyone."

"She sounds like someone else I know. And you can call me Sinéad." Killian's mother cocked a brow in his direction and he flushed red under her words, as Ruby and Granny chuckled at how quickly his mother had managed to embarrass him. "Oh, and I uh… I had to tell the nurses at the front desk that I was Emma's mother-in-law to get some information out of them," Sinéad cringed. "So, play along with that story if you're asked about it."

"It's fine," Killian chuckled. "I told them I was her fiancé. They won't ask any questions."

"Nobody that's seen you with Emma would ask any questions," Ruby argued. Because while she would agree that the guy sat next to her was a good actor, there was absolutely no way that he was acting his way through the heartbreak that he was currently trying to hide.

When David and Mary-Margret returned with enough coffee for everyone, Killian made basic introductions again. After exchanging pleasantries and brief chit-chat, the table lapsed into silence once more as every person around it lost themselves in their thoughts.

"Did Victor say how long the surgery would take?" David asked eventually, flicking a glance up to the clock on the wall. Emma had already been in the operating theatre for over an hour, and with every minute that passed, his nerves began to grow.

"No," Ruby sighed. "I guess he didn't want us to worry in case something went wrong?"

"Yeah. Instead, we'll just sit here and worry that something _is_ going wrong, without anyone giving us any answers," he mumbled to the table top, even as his wife chastised him for it.

"We're all worried," she snapped back. "There's no need to make things worse."

"Sorry," David apologized meekly.

But nobody had been overly offended by his words. After what they'd been through the day he'd found Emma, they'd all been thinking the same thing.

"If uh… if it helps to reassure anyone at all, I read a study on the flight over that said the surgery actually lowered the risk of complications for patients with serve injuries," Sinéad offered quietly.

Killian took a brief moment to marvel over the knowledge that his mother had done so much research on what was happening to the woman he loved, before he allowed her words to soothe some of his fears.

He only hoped that they would do the same for his friends, because he hated seeing them suffer too.

"Do you have anywhere to stay in town, Dear?" Granny asked eventually, as she turned away from her knitting to face the newcomer to their small group.

"I uh… I didn't think that far ahead," Sinéad admitted, with a wry chuckle. "There has to be some kind of accommodation close to town, right? Are you still staying here?" she asked her son.

"The uh… the doctors won't let me stay here after Emma's surgery. But David and Mary-Margret have offered me their spare room."

"I run the local bed and breakfast," Granny explained. "I'll make you up a room as soon as Emma's out of the OR."

"Thank you so much. That's really kind of you."

* * *

Mary-Margret was the first to spot Doctor Whale when he poked his head around the door to the small café, over ninety minutes later. He gave a gentle nod of his head to indicate that they should return to the privacy of the waiting room, before turning to head that way himself. Mary-Margret couldn't pull her eyes away from the spot where he had been standing, as she reached out to tap her husband's leg to get his attention.

"What's wrong, Darling?" David asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her in close.

"Emma's out of surgery."

Nobody bothered to ask how she knew that to be true. They simply followed her lead as she stood from the table and made her way back down the corridors, towards the room they'd all spent _far_ too much time inside of already that week.

When Killian's eyes eventually landed on Whale's weary figure, his first thought was that something had gone horribly wrong during Emma's surgery. He found himself reaching for Ruby's hand once more, as they each took their seats again.

When the door clicked shut behind Granny, the medical professional amongst them finally lifted his head to offer his friends a small smile. "Emma's out of surgery and in recovery right now. We'll be monitoring her closely for a couple of hours, before she's moved back to the ICU," he explained.

"Everything went well, but we did have to give her another transfusion, which is why she's being monitored again. The guys from Boston will be down in a few minutes to give you all a more technical description of how things went, but for now, she's made it past this next hurdle. Be proud of her."

"You should go home and get some rest," Granny told him. Because he looked absolutely exhausted in that moment.

"I'm gonna do just that," Whale assured her, as he finally rose to his feet. "The specialists from Boston will stick around for a while, just in case they're needed while I'm gone."

"I'll walk you out," Ruby offered. She gave Killian's hand a gentle squeeze as she explained, "I'll be right back," before she stood to follow her boyfriend out of the room.

Killian sank back into his seat as he scrubbed a harsh hand over his face. This was the small victory he had been hoping for all weekend, and he would definitely take it as one. But before he could even consider celebrating the progress that had been made that afternoon, he knew that he would need to see Emma once more, just to reassure himself that she was still in there, and that she was still fighting her way back to him.

"Are you okay, Sweetheart?" his mother asked softly, when she noticed that the others were busy talking amongst themselves.

"Yeah. I just uh… I just really need to see her again, you know?"

"I do," she assured him. "Seeing is easier to believe, than blindly accepting the word of someone else."

"When did you get so wise?" he asked suddenly, as he rolled his head around on his shoulders to face his mother.

"Oh, I've always been this wise. You boys have just never bothered listening to me before," she chuckled.

* * *

Killian was getting a little restless by the time Doctor Smith finally made his way to the tiny waiting room, to talk with Emma's friends.

"Sorry to have kept you waiting," he apologized, as he took in the frazzled faces around the room. "I was just filling out some paperwork and going over some care routines with the nurses."

Smith took the same seat that Whale had vacated earlier that day, before he launched into his explanation of how the procedure had gone.

"Okay, firstly, I know that Doctor Whale stopped by to let you all know that everything went well, but I just want to take a moment to reassure you guys of that. We ran into no problems during the procedure itself, so you should let that news reassure you a little. Now, the frame itself will have to remain in place for at least six weeks, just so that we can be sure that the bones will begin to heal in the right places. The last thing we want is for them to start that process unaligned, as we'd then need to go back in and re-break them, so they can be set correctly."

Everyone in the room cringed a little at the thought of that, and suddenly, the procedure that Emma had been through that afternoon seemed less scary than they had all initially believed it to be.

"Emma will probably wake up before we remove it, so what we've done is we've arranged with Doctor Whale to have her brought out of the medically induced coma that she's currently in, under our terms. That way, we can attempt to control her reactions when she does wake. She'll obviously be confused and quite sore, so we don't want her panicking and causing any disruptions to the pelvic region, that could set her recovery back."

"And when will that be?" Killian interrupted, because seeing his girlfriend's beautiful green eyes again was something he needed more than he ever thought he would.

"Soon," Smith assured him. "Doctor Whale would like to have the chest tube and ventilator removed before we wake her, and I'm in full agreement with him there. That way, she won't be quite as uncomfortable when she comes around, which means that she'll hopefully panic less without those invasive tubes in place. But the removal of both will depend upon how Emma's body heals. I'm afraid that's not something we can put a solid timeframe on. Doctor Whale will discuss that more with you when the time comes."

"Okay."

Everyone in the room nodded their understanding. While they each hated not having a concrete timeline to work with, they all knew that the doctors were only doing what they thought was best for their friend.

And nobody would argue with that.

"Now, before you see Emma, you need to know that in order to keep the frame as stable as we can, we've covered her bottom half with one sheet, and her top half with another. So it will be visible when you enter that room. _Please_ , whatever you do, _don't touch that frame_."

"We won't," Mary-Margret assured him.

"I'll be sticking around for a few days just to make sure there are no post-surgery complications. And then after that, Doctor Whale and I will remain in contact regularly until Emma's ready to be brought out of that coma. I'll return to Storybroke when she is, just in case the worst happens during that process."

"Thank you," Killian offered. Because the doctor had done more than just fix Emma's broken bones that afternoon. He'd also helped to reassure the people who loved her most, that Emma was well on the road to recovery now.

"You're very welcome, Mr. Jones. My wife loves your show," Smith told him, before he stood to leave the room, allowing everyone in it that brief moment they needed to bask in the relief they felt.

* * *

Janet was the one to finally come down and let them know that Emma was ready for visitors. Killian had never been more relieved to see a familiar face than he was in that moment. While he didn't know the nurse well, he knew that she'd gone out of her way to not only put them all at ease, but to also make sure that Emma got the best possible care while she was on duty. And for that, he would never be able to thank her enough.

Smith had insisted upon enforcing strict rules for the first few weeks, while Emma was still recovering from her surgery. Which meant that only two of them would be able to see her at a time, and only for a handful of minutes that evening, before visiting hours came to a close.

But Killian was so desperate to see the woman he loved again that he happily agreed to abide by the rules, in the hopes that it would get him to her side faster.

Without exchanging any words, it was decided that he should be the one to visit Emma first, and that Ruby would join him after he'd had a few moments alone with her.

Killian was finally able to follow Janet back up to the familiar space of the ICU once more, over five hours after he'd last left it. He pulled on a fresh gown and a new pair of booties, before heading back through those imposing double doors, and down to the room that had been Emma's since she had arrived at the hospital.

"She's doing really well," Janet told him, as she gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze, before leaving him outside of the closed door to head back to the nurse's station. Killian took a moment to try and mentally prepare himself for what he was about to see, before he pushed down on the handle to let himself into the room.

The familiar hiss and beep of the machines was the first thing to assault his senses, followed by that sterile-clean smell that his nose had long since become accustomed to. But when his eyes fell on Emma's small form in the bed, they inevitably landed first on the large metal cage around her waist, and his knees buckled once more.

"Oh my God," he whispered, as he brought a hand up to try and smother the sobs that wanted to leave his mouth.

Killian drew in a few deep breaths to try and calm himself down as he struggled back to his feet, before making his way over to the side of her bed. "Hey, Beautiful," he whispered, as he pressed a kiss to Emma's forehead and smoothed back the wayward hair there. "I missed you this afternoon."

He took a moment to blink away the tears that were forming in his eyes, as he cast a quick look around the room. The seats had been placed back under the window once more, and the flowers his parents had sent had been removed from the table. The room look exactly as it had done the first time he'd stepped into the space, and it felt so cold and unwelcoming.

Killian briefly moved away from Emma's side to lift one of the chairs back to the spot he'd occupied earlier that day, and then doused his hands with the sanitizer at the end of her bed, as he sank down onto it.

"The uh… the doctors said you did really well today, Sweetheart," he praised, as he took her hand into his own to press a kiss to the back of her knuckles. "I'm so proud of you, Emma. You're fighting really hard right now, and I've _never_ been more proud of you. I just wish I could fight this battle for you."

He dropped his head down onto the side of the bed nearest her hand, as he allowed the sheets there to soak up the tears that just wouldn't stop falling, no matter how hard he tried to hold them back.

"When you're out of here, I'm gonna do everything I can to make this recovery as easy for you as possible," he promised. "Just… don't stop fighting, Emma. Come back to me, okay? I need you to do that for me, Beautiful. I need you to come back."

The sound of a soft knock on the door had Killian quickly scrambling to dash away his tears, as he called out, "You can come in."

He smiled softly at Ruby as she made her way through the door, keeping her eyes resolutely on her friend's face until she was in touching distance. When she eventually dropped them down to take in the frame around Emma's waist, Killian watched as she had to choke back her own sobs at the sight of it.

"Why would someone do this to her?" she whispered softly, as she moved in closer to run a soothing hand over the top of Emma's head. "She's a good person. She doesn't deserve this. _Nobody_ deserves this."

"I don't know," Killian replied robotically. Because he'd asked himself the same thing many times since he'd first seen just how bad Emma's injuries had been. He wouldn't have wished that kind of fate on his worst enemy, let alone someone as inherently good and pure as Emma was. "But I promise you that no matter what happens, I won't rest until we find out who was responsible for this, and that person is brought to justice."

Ruby briefly raised her eyes met his own. They were blazing with a fierce determination that told Killian she would do whatever she could to help with that promise, as she simply declared, "Good."

* * *

Killian reluctantly pulled himself away from Emma's side so that Granny could join Ruby for a few moments. The older woman had needed to see for herself that the sheriff was safe and recovering, before she allowed David and Mary-Margret to take their places.

"Do you wanna come back in with me?" Killian asked his mother, as he paced the corridor outside of the ICU while he waited for his turn to say goodnight to Emma once more.

"I can wait out here. I'm not so sure Emma would want this to be how we first meet," Sinéad explained. "I know I wouldn't."

"Emma won't mind too much," Ruby told her. "If anything, she'd be flattered that you cared enough to come."

"Are you sure you want me in there?" his mother worried.

"Of course I am."

While Killian had tried his best to keep his emotions from spilling over in front of his new friends, he wasn't quite as concerned about his mother seeing him break down in Emma's room. She had already seen enough of that since she'd arrived in town, and he knew that she would never judge him for doing so.

Sinéad nodded her understanding before reaching for a gown of her own, and a small pair of booties, while they waited for the Nolans to say their goodnights and return.

When Killian eventually pushed his way back into the unit once more, it was obvious to his mother just how much time he'd spent there, from the small nods and smiles the staff sent his way. He walked confidently to the end of the hall, with his eyes locked on the door to the private room tucked away at the back of the unit.

But he paused for a moment as he reached for the handle, before turning around to lock eyes with his mother once more. It was Killian's way of asking if she was ready for what she was about to face. So when Sinéad nodded confidently once, he drew in a deep breath before pushing the door open.

While Killian had told her exactly what had happened to Emma, since her arrival at the hospital, his mother hadn't quite been prepared for the sight that greeted her inside of that small room.

"Oh God," she gasped, as she brought a hand up to cover her mouth.

Her son's girlfriend was clearly a beautiful woman. Even under all of the wires, tubes and bandages, she could see that. But Emma's natural beauty was completely obscured by everything the poor girl had suffered through.

Sinéad's eyes moved over Emma's face, taking in the dark bruises and raised scratches that marred her flawless skin, before settling on the two large tubes that were connected to the one emerging from her mouth, to help her breath. She moved her eyes down to the sling that held Emma's right arm bent across her chest, and then down further to the metal bars that framed her waist, helping to hold her pelvis in place. The young woman looked so small and broken in that hospital bed.

Sinéad had never wanted to hug anyone more than she did Emma, in that moment.

"Are you okay?" Killian asked softly, as he turned back to face his mother, who had tears streaming down over her cheeks.

"I thought I knew what to expect," she whispered. "I thought I'd prepared myself for this. But…"

"Yeah," he replied sadly. "There really isn't any preparing yourself for this."

"What kind of a monster does something like this?" she asked, her anger cracking her voice as she spoke.

Sinéad turned away from her son for a moment as she attempted to collect herself and dry her eyes. As she did, she heard as Killian's soft footfalls moved away from her and over towards the bed, before the creaking of the old leather chair met her ears.

Moments later, the silence in the room was broken by his hushed voice whispering, "Hey, Beautiful. I'm uh… the doctors are making me leave you tonight, to help you recover. But I promise I'll be back by your side the moment they let me in."

She turned back around to watch as her son gently cradled his girlfriend's hand between his own, while he pressed a soft kiss to the back of her knuckles. She'd never seen Killian act so gently and tenderly before, and it certainly wasn't helping with the tears she was trying to fight back.

"David and Mary-Margret have offered me their spare room while I can't be here with you. So I'm gonna get to meet Leo tomorrow morning. I hope he likes me. When my brother had his first kid, every time I went anywhere near James, he'd scream the house down. He's obviously gotten used to me now, but it took a few months for the screaming to stop."

Sinéad snorted out a watery laugh at the memory of that moment, and Killian reluctantly dragged his eyes away from his love's face, to turn back to her.

"My uh… my mam's here," he told Emma softly. "I know you guys haven't officially met yet, and this probably isn't the best way for you to do so. But she wanted to come by and offer her support. I can't wait for you to wake up so she can meet the woman I love. Because I know she'll see exactly why I fell for you, Emma."

A soft knock on the door startled them both, and Killian looked up just in time to see Janet push it open and poke her head inside.

"Five more minutes, Killian. Doctor Smith will be back up soon to check on Emma, and visiting hours ended twenty minutes ago."

"Thanks, Janet. You'll uh… you'll keep a close eye on her tonight, won't you?"

"Of course," the nurse assured him. "I'll come in and talk to her when I can, so she knows she's not alone. And if anything changes, I promise I'll call you myself to let you know what's going on."

"Thank you."

Janet excused herself quietly to give the family their chance to say goodnight privately, and Sinéad found herself turning away once more as she watched Killian stand up and lean over to press a kiss to the corner of Emma's mouth.

She didn't want to interrupt what was clearly an intimate moment.

"I love you," he whispered so softly, his mother almost didn't hear it. "And I'm so proud of you, Sweetheart. Keep fighting your way back to me, Emma. I'll be right here waiting for you, when you're ready to wake up."

When Sinéad turned around once more, Killian was wiping his eyes with the back of his sleeve, but he still had a tight grip on his girlfriend's hand. She could tell that he was going to need a push to get him out of that room that evening.

"Keep fighting, young lady," she told the woman resting in the bed. "I'd like my chance to meet the woman who stole my son's heart." She leaned over to press a kiss to the centre of Emma's forehead, before pulling back to take Killian's free hand into her own. "Come on, Honey. Emma needs to get some rest, and so do you. We'll come straight back tomorrow morning."

"Yeah," he whispered.

But it still took a long minute for him to finally press one last kiss to his girlfriend's cheek, before Killian let his mother guide him out of the room.

* * *

Sinéad had rented a car at the airport when she had landed in Boston, so after checking that Killian would be okay spending the night at the Nolans' home, she said her goodbyes to her son, and drove Granny and Ruby back to the bed and breakfast in town.

With Victor at home resting up for the first time since the incident, Ruby hadn't wanted to be alone in the apartment she normally shared with her best friend. So the three women had headed back to the comfort of the diner, where Granny had divided a bottle of her finest whiskey between them, as they each tried their hardest to convince themselves that Emma would be fine.

While they were busy getting to know each other a little better over a bottle of single malt, David drove his wife and Killian back to the small loft they shared together, not far from Emma's own apartment. It wasn't quite what Killian had been expecting from their home, but the rustic space suited the personality of the two people he'd come to know well, he decided, as David unlocked the front door.

A woman around their age appeared to be asleep on the small couch in the lounge, so Mary-Margret made her way over to the sofa to wake her friend, as her husband showed Killian through to the kitchen.

"Mary-Margret," the stranger gasped, as she bolted awake. "How's Emma?"

"She's doing okay. The surgery went well, so now we just need to wait for her to wake up."

"That's good. That's really good. I'll be praying for her recovery again tonight." The other woman glanced over to the kitchen to smile softly at David, before her eyes landed on Killian's form. "Oh, hello."

"Nova, this is Killian," Mary-Margret introduced. "He's Emma's fiancé. Nova's part of the convent in town, and she's been watching Leo for us while we've been at the hospital."

Killian sent Nova a small smile of thanks, but he was far too exhausted to make conversation with anyone else that evening. He just wanted to curl up on whatever bed the Nolans could provide him with, and hopefully get some sleep to pass the time, until he could be back by Emma's side once more.

"I'll get out of your hair," Nova announced, as she stood and reached for the jacket she had placed over the back of one of the chairs. "Leo's been a little angel again all evening. But I'm sure you knew he would be. He's sleeping soundly in the nursery."

"Thanks for watching him for us."

"Any time. I'll see you guys tomorrow," she promised, before pulling open the front door. "It was lovely to meet you, Killian. You know… you kinda look like the guy who plays Hook on that fairy tale TV show," she mused, before seeing herself out.

"Do you get a lot?" David wondered, when the loft fell silent once more.

"More than you'd believe," Killian chuckled.

* * *

Mary-Margret forced the two men to sit down and eat something over steaming mugs of cocoa, before she finally allowed David to show Killian up to the room that would be his, for as long as he needed it.

The small space was far more homey and comfortable than he was expecting, with its own bathroom attached so that he wouldn't need to disturb the others in the middle of the night. Someone had kindly placed fresh towels in the cupboard, and toiletries on the counter ready for his use.

Killian wasn't quite sure he had the words to explain how much those small gestures meant to him that evening.

"Leo usually sleeps through the night, but he does wake early," David explained. "So try not to freak out too much if you start hearing a baby babbling away at five _am_."

"I won't," Killian chuckled. "Thanks for having me here, Dave. The thought of going back to Emma's place without her there… it just made me feel sick."

"I get that. When I was looking for her, I went to the apartment to check if she'd overslept. I've been inside that place more times than I can count, but I'd never felt like an intruder there until that day."

The two men fell silent for a minute as they both took their time to reflect upon those feelings. Killian realized in that moment that Emma had been right all those weeks ago, back in Chicago. Home wasn't a physical location. It was the people around him that made a place feel like a home.

"You're welcome here for as long as you need a place to stay," David told him, before clapping Killian gently on the shoulder. "Get some rest, Mate."

"You too," he called back softly, as he watched his friend's weary form disappear back down the stairs.

Killian dropped down heavily onto the bed for a moment just to run his fingers through his hair, as he tried to clear his mind.

He wasn't sure how long he remained in that position for, but eventually, he stood up to begin pulling off his clothes, before crawling into bed to cry himself to sleep once more.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	40. Chapter 40

**As with before, I've tried to research as much as I can here to make this as accurate as possible, but I am in no way a medical expert.**

 **WARNING - There are brief mentions of the loos of a child in this update.**

 **Happy birthday WriterchickRuby**

* * *

Killian woke the next morning to the sound of whispered voices. It took him a moment to shake off the haze of sleep and remember where he was, but when he did, he groaned a little as he reached for his phone. The numbers at the top of the screen seemed to be taunting him, as they told him it was only a little past six. Doctor Smith had made it clear that nobody would be allowed into the ICU until eight, and Killian knew that the next two hours would seem like a lifetime while he waited to see Emma once more.

After throwing off the sheets he quietly padded his way through to the bathroom. The light inside of the small room was harsh with its brightness, and showed just how much the past few days had taken their toll on him. His skin was pale and unhealthy looking, thanks to his utter exhaustion. Even after the solid night of sleep he'd managed to get, the bags under his eyes looked in danger of taking over his face. And his hair was going to take more than just a comb to tame.

He looked awful, and there was absolutely no amount of cover-up that would hide that.

Killian quickly brushed his teeth to remove that awful cotton-mouth that he'd woken up with, before stripping off his boxers and under-shirt to step into the shower. He hadn't bathed since he'd arrived in Storybrooke, and the scalding hot water in the Nolans' home helped to wash away not only the grime and dirt from the days since his flight had landed, but also some of the fears he'd carried with him since taking Ruby's call.

Emma was stable, and her pelvic breaks had been set.

It wasn't much, but it was the best news they could have hoped for right then.

After pulling on a new pair of jeans and one of the black t-shirts that Mary-Margret had purchased for him, Killian quietly made his way downstairs to greet his friends.

He was a little surprised to find David alone in the kitchen, bouncing gently in front of the stove. But his confusion was quickly cleared up when the other man turned to reveal the little boy in his arms, sucking on a plastic toy.

"Sorry. We didn't wake you, did we?" he asked quietly.

"No," Killian lied. Because the last thing he wanted to do was make the guy feel bad for comforting his son, in his own home. "Is he okay?"

"Yeah. He's just full of energy this time of the morning," David chuckled. "And we didn't wanna wake mommy, did we?" He turned back to mess with the coffee machine, but didn't look to be making much progress, thanks to the little boy that was wiggling away in his arms.

"Do you want some help with that?" Killian asked, moving around the counter to stand beside the struggling father.

"Sure." David shifted Leo in his arms until he was pushing the child into his friend's chest, and waited until a startled looking Killian finally wrapped a hand around his son's back, before he let go. "Thanks, Mate. Coffee?"

"Uh… yeah… sure," Killian managed to squeeze out, while staring down in shock at the small boy who was now peering up at him with wide eyes.

Little Leo Nolan appeared to be the perfect combination of his parents. He had a shock of dark hair on top of his head, that looked a lot like his mother's in both its color, and the way it fell over his forehead. The boy had the same soft blue eyes as his father, and wore that same confused look that David had worn, when Killian had first been introduced to the guy.

"Hey, little fella," he greeted softly. "What's this?"

Killian tugged gently on the toy the little boy held in his fist, and Leo let it go with a small cry of, "train."

"Emma bought it for him," David supplied helpfully. "He hasn't let it go since then. It goes _everywhere_ with us, doesn't it, Leo?"

Leo threw in another excited cheer of, "train," again, and both men chuckled a little at the sound of it.

Killian adjusted his hold on his charge until the boy felt a little more secure in his arms, before he began running the train over his chest until it bumped Leo softly on the tip of his nose. The little lad squealed in delight at the move, so Killian took that as his sign to keep going, adjusting the path the train took every now and then, to keep him guessing.

"Well, this is definitely a wonderful sight to wake up to in the mornings," Mary-Margaret chuckled, drawing the attention of all three men her way. She had her phone in her hand, and was busy snapping pictures of Killian with her son.

"Let me guess, 'Leo's first celebrity encounter?'" David teased.

"No," she protested weakly. "Well… yes. But I thought that Emma might like to see these when she woke up. I mean… that's like the textbook definition of an ovary explosion going on right there."

Killian's face fell immediately at his friend's words.

He knew that Mary-Margaret had meant nothing by her comments, but he couldn't help the cold shiver that ran down his spine when he thought about delivering the new about their own child to Emma, when she woke.

"Can you uh… can you take Leo?" he asked David, handing the baby over before his friend could say a word in protest. "I need some fresh air."

"Is something wrong?" David asked.

"I just… I really need to clear my head right now."

Killian didn't even bother grabbing a jacket before he took off, closing the apartment door softly behind himself. He felt a little bad for running out on his friends the way he had. The Nolans had been nothing but gracious to him since his arrival in town. But he knew that if he'd stayed any longer, he'd have ended up spilling his news to them before Emma had a chance to hear it herself.

And that was the last thing he wanted to do.

"What the hell just happened?" David asked his wife, as they watched the door swing shut behind their friend.

"I don't… oh no," she whispered, as a sudden understanding began dawning over her.

God how she hoped that she was wrong.

* * *

Killian wasn't surprised that his feet had carried him over to Granny's Diner that morning. He knew that he wouldn't be able to face the station without Emma by his side, and Granny's was the only other place in town that he knew how to get to.

But the moment he pushed through the front door, he found himself wishing he'd carried on towards the docks.

"Still here?" Neal drawled from his place at the back of the room.

Killian tried his hardest to ignore the guy as he made his way over to one of the free seats at the counter, where Granny was already waiting for him.

"Coffee?" she asked quietly.

"Please."

"Don't you have a job to get back to?"

"Ignore him," Granny soothed, as she placed a large mug in front of Killian and reached out to gently rub his hand. "He's just jealous."

"He's an arse," Killian replied, as he tried his best to block out the man sat in the corner of the room, while he sipped at his coffee. "Is my Mam here?"

"She's just popped out with Ruby to get a few essentials for her stay. I'm sure she'll be back soon."

"Thanks, Granny." He offered the older woman a tight smile as she went back to busying herself with her breakfast preparations, and Killian tried his hardest not to dwell on what had happened at the Nolan home that morning.

"Really, Jones? You just gonna sit there and pretend like you hold some sort of moral high ground right now, when _you're_ the one who stole _my_ girlfriend?" Neal taunted.

Killian balled his free hand into a fist as he gritted his teeth together to keep his temper in check. Being away from Emma for so long, while she was still in such a fragile condition, had already frayed his nerves more than enough. He didn't need some jumped-up little prick looking for a fight getting in his face.

"Seriously? Nobody has _anything_ to say about that?"

"What the hell is your problem?" Killian demanded, as he jumped up from his chair to turn and face the source of _his_ problems that morning. "Emma's in the hospital, you insensitive prick. She was _shot_ three times by some arsehole who tried to kill her. And he came pretty damned close to doing that. Do you think I give a damn right now about your hurt feelings and knocked pride? Do you honestly think I give a flying fuck about _anything_ other than the health and safety of the woman I love, at this moment in time? You wanna know why Emma left you for me? It's because I _care_ about her more than I care about myself. And the same clearly can't be said for you. So why don't you just do everyone here a favor and fuck the hell off?"

"Is everything okay?" Ruby asked loudly, shattering the tense silence that had fallen over the diner.

"It's fine," Killian spat back, regretting his tone the moment the words had left his mouth. "I'm just… I need to get back to the hospital."

"We'll come with you," she told him softly, wrapping her arm through his to offer it a gentle squeeze of reassurance.

Killian continued to glare in Neal's direction for a moment longer, before he allowed Ruby to tug him out towards the car that his mother was already waiting inside of.

* * *

When Sinéad Jones pulled into a space at the hospital, Ruby seemed to sense that mother and son might need a moment alone together to talk.

"I'm gonna go check and see if Mary-Margaret's here yet," she told them. "Why don't you guys join us in the café in a little bit?"

"Thanks, Ruby," Sinéad offered, as she watched the young girl slip from the vehicle and close the door softly behind herself. For a moment, there was silence in the vehicle as mother and son watched her head into the building, before Sinéad finally turned to Killian to ask, "What happened?"

"It's nothing. It's completely stupid," he told his mother, trying to wave away her concerns. "Mary-Margaret said something this morning and it kinda hit a nerve. I just… I had to get out of the loft before I ended up blabbing everything. And then, because the universe seems to _hate_ me right now, Neal fucking Gold had to be inside of Granny's when I got there."

"Neal Gold? Who's Neal Gold?"

"He's Emma's ex," Killian sighed. "I uh… I _might_ have stolen her from him."

"You did _what_ now?" his mother snapped, unbuckling her belt to turn in her seat and face her son.

"It's not like that," Killian rushed to assure her. Because the last thing he wanted was for his mother to hold that against Emma when she woke up. "We didn't mean to fall in love, and Emma broke things off with Neal before anything between the two of us happened. He… Neal wasn't good for her, Mam. You should have seen him when I showed up here after getting that call. He was only here because he thought she'd wake up with amnesia and have forgotten all about me, so that he could worm his way back into her life. He called her a fucking whore for Christ's sake."

Killian took a moment to calm himself down as he realized that his tone had grown with his anger until he was practically yelling the words at his mother. And she definitely didn't deserve to be on the receiving end of his fury.

"Emma's a good person, Mam. She chose to see the best in him and he not only cheated on her repeatedly, but he also used her too. I promise, I'm not proud of stealing another man's woman, but I don't regret what happened between us. I care for her more than he _ever_ has done, or ever would."

"He really called her a whore?" his mother asked. She might have spoken quietly in the small space of the car, but Sinéad Jones's anger was clearly evident in her tone.

"Yeah. I uh… I broke his nose for it."

Killian cringed a little as he waited to hear his mother's final thoughts on the issue. When she finally reached out to him it was to squeeze his shoulder gently as she told him, "Good lad." He chuckled in relief at her words before sliding out of the car and making his way around to the driver's side to wait for her to join him.

Mother and son walked into the hospital in complete silence that morning, both lost in thoughts about everything that had been revealed to them already that day.

While Killian wasn't proud that he'd essentially made a move on a woman while she'd been in a relationship with another man, he couldn't bring himself to regret his past with Emma. Meeting her had been one of the best moments of his life, and he wouldn't change any part of that.

He was just relieved that his mother wasn't judging him too hard for what had happened, and that she didn't seem to be holding it against Emma either. After all, if she ever had a chance to meet Neal, he was pretty sure she'd understand _why_ Emma had chosen him over her ex.

It didn't take the two of them long to find the girls inside the small hospital café, and as Ruby waved them over, Sinéad detoured to the counter to grab everyone a fresh mug of coffee.

"I'm sorry for running out on you this morning," Killian whispered to Mary-Margaret, as he slipped into the seat beside hers.

"It's okay," she soothed. "I understand."

His eyes flew up from the tabletop to meet hers, and behind her gaze he could see the understanding that was hidden there. Mary-Margaret must have worked out what had happened after he'd left the loft that morning.

"Don't worry, I'm not gonna say anything to anyone," she assured him. "I haven't even told David. I'm just… I'm sorry for your loss, Killian."

"Thank you." There were so many more words that he wanted to say to her, but none of them would come to him in that instant.

As Mary-Margaret reached for his hand under the table to offer it a gentle squeeze, Killian began to understand that he wasn't quite as alone as he had first thought himself to be, when he had arrived in Storybrooke.

* * *

The rest of the week seemed to crawl by at a snail's pace, as the people that loved Emma most adjusted to the new visiting regulations that had been imposed upon them.

With only two people allowed at Emma's side at any one time, it took a while for them to work out a pattern that would suit everyone best, and still allow her friends to continue going about their daily life in the small town.

While Killian's mother spent less time by her future daughter-in-law's side than everyone else did, Sinéad Jones had proven to be a valuable asset to their small group, especially with the way little Leo Nolan had taken to the woman. She had been more than happy to watch the small boy while his parents were busy trying to juggle work with visiting their friend.

Sinéad and Granny had also taken it upon themselves to make sure that everyone ate at least one decent meal a day. So the small group had gotten used to returning from the hospital to find one of the two women's signature dishes waiting for them at the Nolan's home.

The impromptu dinner parties had also given Killian the time to bond a little more with his love's friends. He hadn't realized just how much he needed that until it became a regular feature in his days, because with every shared meal that passed, he felt a little less like an outsider in their presence.

Whenever Killian found himself away from Emma's side, he tried his hardest to keep his mind occupied and make himself useful. So he started looking at places to rent in Boston. He'd found a number of properties that were located close enough to the hospital to be a short drive away, that would be perfect for the two of them to share when Emma was eventually moved. While he'd have preferred to pick a place with her input, Killian knew that might not be possible, so he focused on compiling a shortlist of some of his favorites, and made some enquiries about the ones that showed the most potential.

He'd also spent some time researching funerals for babies that had been miscarried at around the gestation Whale had estimated his child to have been. There were a few places in the state that offered specialized services for such an occasion, but Killian couldn't ever imagine Emma wanting to hold a large service for their child. So he continued to search until he stumbled over a small crematorium in New Hampshire, that had been incredibly helpful when he'd emailed them about his situation.

The director of services there had assured him that she would be able to help himself and Emma make a decision about what was best for them, when Emma was finally awake. And she had sent over some material for the two of them to browse when they were ready.

It wasn't the kind of thing that Killian had ever imagined needing to do in his life, but he wanted to take care of as much as he could, while Emma was still recovering.

* * *

Things changed once more the Friday after Emma's pelvic surgery.

Doctor Whale had ordered a new set of x-rays on her lungs, and when he returned to the small waiting room the group had gathered inside of, it was with a wide smile on his face.

"I have some good news for you," he declared, as he took a seat opposite his friends. "As you know, we've been keeping a close eye on Emma's lung to make sure that no further intervention was needed, and that the chest tube was doing its job. The new films that we took today have shown that the lung tissue has almost fully expanded once again, which means that we're going to go ahead and remove her chest tube this afternoon."

Killian breathed a heavy sigh of relief as Ruby reached over to squeeze his arm gently. They all knew that Emma was still far from being fully recovered, but one less tube in her body would feel like another huge milestone accomplished on her journey.

"What uh… what about the ventilator?" he asked.

"I'm going to order another set of films to be taken forty-eight-hours after the tube is removed. As long as they show no signs of a collapse, we'll go ahead and remove that this weekend too."

"Oh, that's fantastic news," Mary-Margaret sighed, as she clutched her husband's hand tightly.

"Does that mean you'll be waking her soon?" Killian whispered. His mind chose that moment to remind him of the words Doctor Smith had spoken after the surgery earlier that week, and he allowed himself to dare to hope.

"That all depends," Whale replied tactfully. "We'll get her pelvis x-rayed while we're there too, and see how those breaks are healing. I don't want to attempt to wake her until we see some progress there. But I don't think it will be much longer now. I know how desperate you guys are to see that smile again, and prolonged sedation isn't ideal in any situation."

"I'll settle for just seeing those beautiful green eyes of hers once more," Killian chuckled, as he relaxed back into his seat. Because even though he knew that he'd be waiting a while longer for that moment, he was now more sure than he had ever been before, that he _would_ get to see them again.

"Okay. I'm gonna head back up so we can get that tube out and see how Emma does without it, and then I'll send someone back down for you guys when she's ready for visitors again," Whale promised.

"Thank you, Victor," Mary-Margaret called after him, as for the first time since the incident had occurred, a feeling of hopeful anticipation settled over the small waiting room at Storybrooke general.

* * *

When one of the nurses finally came down to inform them that Emma was ready for visitors once more, Killian was the first out of the door. Being away from her for so long every evening was already hard enough, but being kept away longer during visiting hours seemed like a cruel form of torture.

"Hey, Beautiful," he whispered, as he entered Emma's room once more that afternoon. While the missing chest tube wasn't terribly obvious, just the knowledge that it was gone, and that Emma seemed to be coping well without it, had filled him with a kind of lightness that he hadn't expected.

"Doctor Whale says you're doing amazingly well, Sweetheart. I'm so proud of how hard you're fighting right now." He took a moment to douse his hands with the sanitizer at the end of her bed, before he made his way over to her side. After brushing back the hair from Emma's face, he bent down to press a sweet kiss to her forehead.

In the short space of time since she'd first been admitted to the hospital, the cuts and bruises on Emma's face had faded greatly. The deep purples and angry blacks were now light greys and dull yellows, and were slowly shrinking in size. The angry red cuts had faded pink lines, some of which you really needed to be looking for to spot.

Just seeing that part of her body heal itself so quickly was giving them all a much needed boost, when it came to Emma's recovery.

"He also said that if your x-rays look good on Sunday, they're going to attempt to remove the ventilator. Which means that I might finally be able to kiss you properly again," he chuckled. "I've missed being able to do that."

Killian reached out to take her hand into his own once more, and brushed a soft kiss over the back of her knuckles.

"I've been looking into homes for us to share for when you're transferred to Boston. I haven't put a deposit down anywhere yet, because I'm still hoping that you'll wake up soon and help me make this choice. But I've made some enquiries to help us out. I just… I just wanna do whatever it takes to make this easier for you, Sweetheart. I love you."

* * *

On Sunday morning, the entire gang gathered together in the small café as they eagerly awaited the results of Emma's next set of x-rays.

Killian's leg bounced restlessly against the floor as he sipped cold coffee and attempted to listen to the conversation his mother was having with David, about the current police investigation. But his mind was already in that room with Emma, desperately hoping that the amount of wishful thinking coming from him that day would help her in some way.

"Are you okay?" Ruby whispered quietly.

"Yeah. Just… ready for that tube to be out now, you know?"

"I do," she assured him. Because they all knew that this was the final step needed before Emma could be brought out of her coma. And they were all more than ready to see their friend again.

"She's got this."

"Yeah," Killian agreed, but he couldn't stop that nervous bounce of his leg even as Ruby's words reassured him a little more.

When visiting hours began again, the group finished up their coffees and snacks to make their way back to the waiting room. Whale had promised to deliver the news in person as soon as he could, but none of them really knew how long it would take for the staff to get Emma x-rayed, and then for those images to be examined by her team.

So when he entered the room a little under an hour later, they weren't sure if they should be happy to see him so soon, or worried that Emma wasn't yet ready for that next stage in her recovery.

"Is everything okay?" Killian asked, leaning forward a little as he did.

"Yes. The chest x-ray showed that Emma's lung tissue hasn't collapsed without the tube, so we're going to go ahead and remove the ventilator as soon as we get her settled back into her room," he explained.

"And her pelvis?"

"I've forwarded the x-rays over to the specialists in Boston, so that they can have the final say on the matter. But as far as I'm concerned, Emma's doing remarkably well. I think the guys there will want to look at waking her before the end of next week, so that we can start work on getting her mobile again."

"Oh, thank god," he sighed, as he dropped his head back against the wall of the room.

Ruby squeezed one of his hands reassuringly as his mother gently rubbed his forearm.

It was possibly the best news they'd heard all month.

"Watching the removal of a ventilator is never fun," Whale explained, "So I'm gonna leave you guys down here for a moment longer while we get that out. I'm also gonna have Janet sit and monitor Emma for the next hour while she's off it, so we can check her vitals and make sure that her body can handle what it's being asked to do. If all that goes well, then you guys can come back up and see her," he promised.

"Thank you so much, Victor. We really appreciate all that you're doing for Emma," Mary-Margaret told the man.

It was strange to think about Ruby's boyfriend as being the guy who had probably saved Emma's life. But she would definitely need to think of a way to show him just how much they all appreciated everything that he'd done for their friend.

"There's no need to thank me. I'm just doing my job." The doctor brushed aside the compliment easily, but Killian could see the way his cheeks had pinked a little from it. It clearly meant a lot to Whale to have that thanks, and Killian made a silent promise to himself to acknowledge what the man had done for them every chance he got.

* * *

The wait while Whale and his team removed the ventilator, and then carefully monitored Emma's vitals for any signs of trouble, was excruciating. Even with a limited understanding of medical knowledge, they all knew that if Emma struggled to breath for herself without that mechanical help, it would set back her recovery time drastically.

And nobody wanted that for her. She'd already come so far in the few weeks since the incident had occurred.

Killian was too nervous to make conversation, so he paced at the back of the room, trying to expel as much of that energy as he possibly could, while they waited on some news.

By the time that Janet made her way into the room with a soft smile on her face, he was almost at his breaking point.

"You can come up and see her now."

Killian knew that her words were for the benefit of everyone in the room, but the way the nurse fixed her gaze on him as she spoke told him that she understood his frustrations and unease.

"You go," Ruby called out from behind him. "We can come up and see her soon. Go and kiss your girl," she encouraged gently.

Killian turned back to press a kiss to the top of his friend's head as he whispered his thanks to her, before he turned and practically ran from the room.

The corridors had become easy to navigate thanks to the amount of time he'd spent inside of the hospital, so he made it up to the ICU not long after Janet. When he'd pulled on a fresh gown and a new pair of booties she swiped him into the space, and then watched with a soft smile as he marched straight down to the end of the hall, and the private room at the back of it.

This time, Killian didn't bother to steel his nerves before he pushed on the handle to let himself in. He knew that whatever sight greeted him when he walked through that door would be a million times better than it had been, when he'd first entered that room when Emma had been admitted.

And he was right.

While she still looked so small and frail resting in that bed in the middle of the space, Killian thought she'd never looked better than she did in that moment.

"Sweetheart," he whispered, as he made his way over to her side to get a good look at her. "Oh, Emma. I've missed you so much."

He leaned over to brush his lips lightly against her forehead before trailing soft, feather-light kisses down over her closed eyes; the tip of her nose; the apples of her cheeks and finally, to her lips.

When he pulled back he could see the wetness from his tears shining on her face, so he reached out to gently wipe them away, before pressing one more kiss to her lips.

"It's so good to see your beautiful face again," he told her, as he pulled the chair beside the bed in closer. "There was a time not so long ago, where I wasn't sure I ever would. I love you so much, Emma. And I can't wait to start the rest of my life with you when you wake up."

He leaned in to press another kiss to her cheek before pulling back to settle into the chair. Now that he had more access to the woman that he loved, he couldn't seem to keep his hands off her.

A soft knock on the door caught his attention, and Killian looked up just in time to see his mother poking her head into the room. "Is it okay to come in?" she asked. "I wanted to see just how beautiful my future daughter-in-law is, without all of those pesky tubes."

"She's so beautiful," Killian chuckled. "Inside and out."

Sinéad moved to stand on the opposite side of Emma's bed before she looked down at the young woman resting in it. Emma had fought so hard against the odds to be there with them that afternoon, and even thought she didn't know the girl well, Sinéad found herself feeling oddly emotional about the progress she'd made.

"She truly looks it," she told her son. "I'm so happy you've found someone, Honey. Even if it this part does hurt."

"Well… they say the best things in life are worth fighting for. And our future… together… that's definitely something worth fighting for."

Sinéad reached over the bed to squeeze her son's hand, before she turned her attention back to the young woman once more, to whisper, "Welcome to the family, Emma."

* * *

"Morning," Killian called out quietly, as he made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen at the Nolan's home. "Good morning, Leo," he added, as he stopped to ruffle the little guy's hair on his way around the counter.

David had set his son up at the small table in the room, and Leo was busy playing with his trains. He looked up at the sound of his name to offer Killian a big smile and excited wave, before going back to making one long train out of the magnetic smaller ones he owned.

"Can I do anything to help?" Killian had been making the same offer every morning since the Nolans had taken him in, and every morning, David had the same reply waiting for him.

"Nah, I've got this."

So he poured himself a mug of coffee before taking a seat next to the youngest member of the family at the dining table.

"Okay, Leo. What are we doing here?" Killian asked, as the small boy immediately began pushing a handful of trains his way.

"Train," Leo declared excitedly.

Killian took that as his cue to begin running the vehicles around the table as he did his best impersonation of a steam train, while Leo laughed and tried to copy him.

By the time that Mary-Margaret had joined her family, breakfast had been served and the two men were busy making small talk about the weather. So when Killian's phone began to ring, cutting through the atmosphere in the small space, everyone stopped what they were doing to turn in his direction.

The number wasn't one he recognized, but he answered the call anyway with a tentative, "Hello?"

"Killian? It's Janet from the hospital."

His heart began to race as soon as she'd finished speaking. "What's happened?" he demanded. "Is Emma okay?"

David and Mary-Margaret's eyes widened with their alarm, as they both tried to make out what was being said on the other end of the line.

"She's fine," Janet reassured him. "I was just calling to let you know that we're moving Emma out of the ICU and down to a private room right now. Doctor Whale has spoken with the specialists in Boston and with their agreement, we're now preparing to start the process of waking Emma from her coma."

"Oh, thank god," he whispered. His relief in that moment was drowning out the rest of the feelings rushing around his body, as Killian slumped back into his seat. "Should uh… should we be there for that?"

"You can be, yes. We find having a patient wake with a loved one by their side is better for them than waking alone. But Killian, it's not an instant process," she warned. "So take your time, because it could take Emma _days_ to wake up. She's been under strong sedation for a while now and she's still on a lot of medication to help manage her pain. Please don't worry if it takes her a few days to open her eyes again."

"I won't," he assured her. "I won't. I just… I just wanna be there when she wakes up."

David and Mary-Margaret both visibly relaxed at Killian's words as they realized what the call must have been about.

"I'm sure Doctor Whale will make an exception and allow you to stay with Emma while's she's going through this process, so pack a small bag to be safe. See you soon, Killian."

"Thank you, Janet. See you soon." He disconnected the call as soon as the line clicked off on her end, and a wave of calming relief washed over him. "They're waking her up," he told his friends. "It uh… it might take a few days for the medication to wear off, but they're finally waking her up."

Mary-Margaret stood from her place at the table to make her way around to the other side. She wrapped Killian up in a warm hug just as the relief that he felt in that moment turned to tears.

* * *

After placing a few calls that morning, everyone gathered once more inside the small waiting room at the hospital.

Ruby had sent messages to all of Emma's friends to let them know that the doctors would be starting the process of waking her that day, and that she would call when she had some more information for them.

Sinéad had phoned her husband to inform him of the latest developments taking place, and to make sure that he was surviving well enough without her being at home to take care of him. She suspected that he'd been living off takeaway food since he'd dropped her at the airport, so she also sent a quick message to her eldest son, begging him to invite his father around for at least one home cooked meal a week.

And then the two of them took their places on either side of Killian, as the wait began.

Whale allowed them all in to briefly visit Emma so that they could familiarize themselves with her new room, but after a few hours without any signs of change, the group began splitting once more so that they could go about their days as best as possible.

Ruby and Killian remained vigilant by Emma's side, watching closely for any signs of change in her behavior. But by the end of the first night, they were both feeling a little disappointed in the lack of progress that had been made.

While the logical sides of their brains told them that expecting Emma to wake immediately was unreasonable, they couldn't help but want it. They needed her to take that last step away from the darkness that she'd been under for so long, just to reassure themselves that she was actually going to recover from what had happened.

And the longer she made them wait, the more they began to worry that something might have gone wrong.

"This is all perfectly natural," Whale explained, as he made his way into Emma's room on day two, to check on her progress. "We used a medication called Midazolam to keep Emma sedated, as it has longer lasting effects than the alternatives. Midazolam is also a part of the Benzodiazepine family, which means that we need to wean Emma off the drug gently so that we don't end up sending her into withdrawal, as that could be fatal. Once we get her fully off the medication it will start to gradually wear off, allowing her to wake when she's ready. I know it's long, and I know it's a worrying process, but I promise you that as of right now, everything is going according to plan."

Killian tried to allow Whale's words to keep his spirits up. He tried to keep them at the very front of his mind, ready to ward off any of the worries that kept creeping in whenever he was alone.

But by the time day four rolled around without so much as a twitch from the woman that he loved, he was finding it harder and harder to stay positive. He really needed some kind of sign, _any sign_ that Emma was still in there, and working her way back to him.

* * *

As the darkness slowly began to clear, the first thing she became aware of was the harshness of the lights in the room. She blinked once… twice… three times to try and clear the fog at the edges of her vision, as she tried desperately to recall where she was.

The last thing she could remember was a phone call. She had been talking to someone… a man! A man with a smooth and familiar accent… Irish! A man that she knew she loved greatly.

 _Killian!_

She rolled her head around to check the room. It was cold and sterile looking. Nothing at all like the one she'd fallen asleep in. But as her head rolled back the other way, her eyes finally landed on a shock of unruly dark hair, resting by her arm on the bed.

 _Killian!_

The name wouldn't come. Or it was spoken too softly for her to hear.

She tried swallowing around the dryness in her throat, but that only seemed to make the dull ache there more noticeable.

As the darkness began to close in once more, she did the only thing she could think to do.

With every fiber of her being, she focused hard on flexing her fingers around the ones holding on to her left hand tightly.

The darkness had just managed to pull her under when Killian bolted awake beside her, eyes wide with shock as he turned to look at the face of the woman he loved.

"Emma?" he asked.

The small twitch of her fingers in his hand was her silent reply, as the darkness swallowed her again.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	41. Chapter 41

**Sorry for the delay with this one. Our whole house has been sick over the last couple of weeks, so that's kind of set me back a bit.**

* * *

"Emma? Sweetheart?" Killian rose from his seat to hit the call button behind her bed, before dropping back down to squeeze her hand tightly in his own. "If you can hear me, Emma - I love you. And I've missed you so much. Come back to me, okay? I need you here with me, Sweetheart. I can't do this without you."

Janet was the one who responded to his call, pushing into the room with a touch of worry in the corner of her eyes, as she quickly looked Emma over before asking, "What's wrong?"

"She's waking up," he explained, while the tears in his eyes began to spill down over his cheeks. "She squeezed my hand earlier. _Twice_. She's waking up."

Janet took a moment to assess the readings on the machines that Emma was still connected to, before she offered Killian's shoulder a gentle squeeze. "That's excellent news. I'm gonna go and let Doctor Whale know. It might take her a while to open her eyes, as the pain medication she's on will also act as a sedative. But this is good news, Killian. Keep talking to her, okay? It'll help to bring her around if she can hear someone familiar. Give her mind an anchor to cling to, as she tries to surface from underneath that fogginess pulling her down."

He nodded his agreement as she slipped back out of the room. Logically, Killian knew that Janet was trying to temper his expectations. Her words were a warning not to get his hopes up, because a small squeeze of the hand wasn't enough to say that Emma would be immediately waking from her coma. But it had been so long since he'd felt his girlfriend return any of his affections, that Killian couldn't help but feel excited about that one small development she'd made that evening.

"I'm not going anywhere, okay, Sweetheart? I'll be right here by your side all night. And for however long it takes for you to open those beautiful eyes again. Just take your time, Love. I promise, I'm not going anywhere."

He lifted her hand to his face, taking some comfort in the feel of her skin against his, and the gentle pressure of it resting against his cheek, before he lowered it back down to hold in his own once more.

With his free hand, Killian pulled out his phone to fire off quick messages to his mother, David and Ruby. Even with Janet's words still ringing in his ears, urging caution, he couldn't bring himself to keep such an important development from them. Especially when he knew how much that small sign of consciousness would mean to them all.

When he was finished, instead of sliding the device away, he decided to put Janet's advice to some use. It didn't take him long to download the Kindle app to his phone, or to search for some of Emma's favorite books. She'd been reading one in particular, on her flight to and from Chicago all those weeks earlier. So Killian opened the first novel in that series, and began to softly read it aloud to her.

Even if Emma still needed some time to recover before she could open her eyes for him, he hoped that at least hearing someone familiar speaking, would help her to feel safe, when her consciousness began to return.

The sound of his voice filling the small space, as he made his way through chapter one of the book, was oddly comforting. Killian hadn't realized until that moment just how much he'd grown to hate the silence that had lingered in Emma's room, since her pelvic surgery. It only seemed to amplify the noise of the machines that beeped out their steady rhythms. Steady rhythms that had once comforted him, and now felt like their own form of cruel torture.

So that evening, Killian made a silent promise to himself - to never let that silence linger for long, whenever they were alone again.

* * *

"Killian," Ruby whispered softly, as she shook the guy's shoulders to gently rouse him the following morning. "Hey. Has there been any change at all?"

"Uh, no," he told her, as he tried to shake off the haze of sleep that was making his mind a little slow. "Nothing more since then."

He'd kept Emma's hand held firmly in his own all night, just to make sure that he'd know if she tried squeezing it again. But there had been absolutely no change in her lax grip, and he wasn't sure when he'd lost his battle with exhaustion.

"But it's still a good sign, right? I mean, that's better than what we had before."

"Yeah," he agreed, as he reached up to brush the hair away from his girlfriend's face. "It's definitely a good thing. Janet said it will take her a while to shake off all of the medication. So hopefully what happened last night means that she's working her way back to us."

Ruby watched the actor interact with Emma for a brief moment. Killian's actions were always so soft and tender towards her friend, and it never failed to leave her a little breathless at the thought of just how much he loved Emma. There was nobody else in the world who was better suited to be her best friend's partner in life. Of that, Ruby was certain.

"Would you uh… would you like some coffee? Or maybe something to eat?" she asked, around the lump that had formed in the back of her throat. "I kinda get the feeling that you're not planning to leave this room today. So I can ask Granny to bring something over for you, when she comes by?"

"If it wouldn't be too much trouble; that would be great, thanks."

"Of course. I'll let her know and then I'll be right back up. I just want to check in with Victor quickly. He's been almost as reluctant to leave this place as you've been." Ruby bent over to brush a small kiss to her friend's forehead, and then turned to place an identical one to Killian's cheek, before she left the room to search for her boyfriend.

As soon as the door swung shut behind her, Killian turned his full attention back to the beauty sleeping peacefully in the bed. "Good morning, Sweetheart," he whispered, leaning in to brush the softest of kisses over her lips. "I hope that while you're sleeping you're having pleasant dreams. I know that some people say they don't dream at all while they're in your condition, and others say that all of their dreams are nightmares. But… you've suffered so much already, my love. You deserve to be having the sweetest of dreams while you rest and recover from this attack. I just… I wish I could make that happen for you. I feel so helpless right now, Emma. I just want you to wake up and tell me what I can do, so I can help make this easier for you. I just wanna help you."

He took a moment to dash away the tears that were building in his eyes.

"I um… I don't know if you can hear me right now, but I really hope that you can. I hope that the sound of my voice is providing you with some sort of comfort, Emma. I mean, you always did have a thing for my accent," he chuckled, before scrubbing another harsh hand over his face. "I just… I just really miss you, my love. I miss you so much."

He dropped his head back down to the bed to rest beside her own, as he waited for the others to make their return. It wasn't quite the same as being able to hold the woman he loved while she slept, like he'd done so many times in the past. But he would take whatever he could get, while she was still so fragile.

And after seeing those small signs of her waking from the night before, Killian wanted to be closer to his love than he had ever been before.

He finally pulled himself together when there was a soft knock on the door to the room, followed by Mary-Margaret's arrival.

"Is it okay to come in?" she asked, her eyes dropping down to take in Emma's prone form on the bed. Killian spotted the moment that she realized her friend hadn't moved, as the hope she wore on her face seemed to fade just a little. But she covered it quickly as she asked, "No change?"

"No," he sighed. "I _really_ thought that last night meant she was waking up. But now… I'm starting to wonder if maybe it was just a muscle spasm? I mean, that's what tends to happen in the movies, right?"

His friend made her way slowly into the room, pausing at Emma's side to drop a kiss to her forehead, before she continued around to take the seat next to the one that Killian was sure would have an imprint of his arse on, when Emma finally left the hospital.

"She is waking up, Killian. She is. We just need to be patient and let her body recover at its own pace. But she's definitely coming back to us. I think that's why she reached out to you last night. She knew that you needed a sign from her then, more than ever before. And she gave you one. Just to let you know that she's still here, and to never stop hoping that she'll come back to you."

"Emma always did say that you were good at inspirational speeches," Killian chuckled, as he reached for Mary-Margaret's hand with his free one, to squeeze it softly. It was his own way of thanking her for reminding him never to give up, even if he could feel that hope slowly slipping out of his grasp.

"Well, I am a teacher," she explained with a slight shrug of her shoulders. "If I can inspire six year olds to clean up after themselves, I can certainly help remind you not to lose hope."

Killian smiled a little at his friend's words. He so badly wanted to believe what she was saying to him. That Emma would soon wake up, and they could finally begin to put this nightmare behind them all. But he'd been fighting back the cold dread that told him that Emma would leave him for good, ever since Ruby had explained what had happened to her. And it was exhausting. Killian could feel the grip he had on his own battle with the darkness slipping away from him, with every day that passed.

"David's on his way," Mary-Margaret added after a moment. The silence in the room seemed to amplify Emma's missing presence in it, and it had left them both feeling a little awkward over the past few days. "He uh… he's meeting with the team from Boston before he comes here. They have a couple of updates for him on how their investigation's been progressing. But nothing solid yet, unfortunately."

"They're relying on Emma to identify her attacker," he mumbled sadly. Because even though Roberts had refused to say as much, Killian knew that their lack of physical evidence left them with no other choice but to rely upon his girlfriend's recount of that night, to steer them in the right direction.

"Yeah. I think so," his friend agreed. "Ruby said she spoke with Victor about it a few days ago. He doesn't seem to think that Emma will be able to remember what happened to her."

"Good," Killian stated firmly. "She's gonna have enough to deal with when she wakes up. The last thing she needs is memories of what happened to her plague her nightmares."

"You're not worried about this guy never being caught?"

"Of course I am. But if catching him means putting her through more pain and suffering than she's already been through… I don't want that. As much as I wanna find this guy and slowly watch the life drain out of his eyes, as I strangle him with my bare hands… I just don't want her to suffer anymore. She's been through enough already."

Mary-Margaret squeezed his hand gently between her own. She knew just how much Killian wanted the person responsible for this senseless attack brought to justice, because she felt it too. The rage that was building inside of her, every time she thought about _him_ walking around her town freely, while Emma was confined to a bed as she recovered from her injuries, terrified her a little. But seeing Killian's love for Emma, and his desire to protect her, winning out over his selfish urge to see justice served, warmed her heart.

She couldn't have asked for a better partner for her friend, than the man who was currently sat by her side.

"You're a good man, Killian."

He blushed a little at her compliment while he muttered a thanks into his lap. But he was saved from the embarrassment of the situation as Ruby and Granny made their entrance, carrying food and coffee for everyone, with his mother not far behind them.

* * *

"So, she's doing okay?" Robin asked, as Killian paced just outside of the entrance to Storybrooke General, three days later.

There had been no further signs of Emma waking since she'd squeezed his hand that night. Mary-Margaret had suggested that he should get out of the hospital for an hour to clear his head a little, when it became apparent just how frustrating he was finding the lack of developments. Killian hadn't wanted to go too far, though. He was determined to be there for the woman that he loved, when she finally woke from the horrible nightmare it felt like they'd all been trapped inside of. But he had to admit that the fresh air was doing him some good, even with Robin asking stupid questions on the other end of the line. It was at least helping to ease the headache that had formed on the flight over from Vancouver, after he'd gotten Ruby's call all those weeks before.

"As okay as someone who's been shot three times, and had numerous surgeries since then, can be," he snapped back.

Robin chose not to say anything about the tone that his friend had used, but he didn't really need to. Killian was already feeling bad about what he'd said, and the way that he'd said it.

"I'm sorry," he sighed, as he brought a hand up to run through his hair. "I just… I know they told us not to get our hopes up. And I tried not to. I _really_ did. But… every day longer that she stays asleep makes me worry that she's _never_ gonna wake up again. And I'm terrified of that reality, Robin. What the hell will I do if she doesn't wake up from this?"

"Hey! You can't think like that," Robin chided. "You said it yourself, she's showing signs of coming around. You just need to be patient and wait for that to happen. Her body's been through a lot. It's only natural that she's gonna need some time to have the energy to open her eyes again. I mean… just think about how you feel after a night of heavy drinking. It used to take me _hours_ to wake you the next day, and that's like a scratch on the arm compared to everything that Emma's currently going through. Just be patient, Killian. And whatever you do, don't lose that hope. Because she's really gonna need someone she loves and trusts to turn to, when she finds out what's happened to her."

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right," he agreed, as he sagged back to lean against the wall behind him. "It's just tough somedays, you know?"

"Oh, I do." There was a moment of tense silence over the line before Robin added, "I um… I tried to imagine how I'd feel in your position, if it were Marian who had been hurt. And I just couldn't. My brain didn't even want to contemplate a hypothetical reality where something like that could happen to the person I love. So I uh… I know it's tough, Man. But you're doing the right thing being there with her. For _both_ of you."

"Thanks." Killian let another small silence settle over the line before he eventually asked, "How have things been on set?"

"Odd," Robin chuckled. "I think we all got _far_ too used to having you around here, that now you're not, we don't really know what to do with ourselves."

His friend chuckled a little before he offered up, "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. Every single one of us agrees that you're _exactly_ where you need to be right now. And that we wouldn't have hesitated to do the same thing in your shoes. So don't apologize for that. We're focusing on shooting scenes that you weren't scheduled to be in right now, while the writers try and come up with a way to explain Hook's absence. But we're all hoping that you'll be back soon, because that will obviously mean Emma's feeling better."

"Thanks, Man. And I'm uh… I'm sure they'll come up with something soon. I mean, look at all the crazy shit they've done so far."

"That's true," his friend snorted. "Very true. Have you um… have you given any thought to putting out some kind of statement for the fans?" he wondered. "Just to explain your absence from set. Because they've definitely noticed it."

"To be honest with you Mate, I haven't really thought about doing much," Killian told him. "I um… I really don't want this to be the time where I shine a spotlight onto my relationship with Emma. She deserves a chance to recover without having people up in her business, because of her connection to me. And I'm worried that it won't take much for them to work out who she is, if I tell them the truth."

"Then maybe just issue a blanket statement saying that there's being a family emergency that's pulled you away?" Robin suggested. "It would probably work well enough to give you some privacy while you're with Emma, but it would also stop the fans from worrying that you're never coming back. You know how fandoms can get. Someone will find a way to spin this into some big feud with the network, or with one of your costars, and make you look like the bad guy in all of this."

Killian hadn't even thought about that. He'd been struggling to remember to eat and drink every day, so protecting his professional reputation had definitely been low down on his list of priorities. But now that Emma was showing signs of being in recovery, he knew that it was probably something that he should give some more thought to.

"What?" Robin asked, when his friend let slip a bitter chuckle over the line.

"I was uh… I was just thinking about what Emma would want me to do. She'd hate the thought of me being away from set because of her. And she'd hate me doing anything that could jeopardize my career too. The perk of dating a fangirl is that they _really_ are your number one fan. She'd know what to do right now."

"Well, maybe that's your answer," Robin advised. "Think about what Emma would want you to do, and do that."

"You make it all sound so simple."

"Sometimes it is. But whatever happens, whatever you decide to say, or not to say, just know that _everyone_ here has your back right now, Killian. We're all thinking of you guys."

"Thanks, Man. I really appreciate that."

"No worries. Now, why don't you go and get back to your girl?" Robin hinted. "I'm being called back to set, and I know you're probably already missing her. Just… call me when she wakes up, okay? I know that Emma and I didn't get off to the best start in our friendship, but that definitely doesn't mean that I don't care about her."

"I will do. Take care, Robin."

"You too."

Killian disconnected the call as soon as his friend had finished speaking, but he didn't move to head back inside immediately. While being apart from Emma hurt his heart in a way that he would never be able to explain, being around her clouded his mind, filling his head with thoughts of her, and only her. So while the conversation was still fresh in his mind, he took a moment to think through his options, and more importantly, what Emma would encourage him to do.

When he finally decided to head back inside, it was with a plan beginning to form at the back of his mind, as he tapped out a quick email to send to his agent.

* * *

Even with all of the inspirational speeches that he'd been given since he'd arrived in Storybrooke, Killian was beginning to feel his grasp on hope slipping through his fingers, as another day dragged by without so much as a flutter of Emma's eyelashes.

When he said goodnight to his friends that evening, rock bottom felt closer than it ever had before. Every day without another sign from Emma had him worrying that he'd dreamed the entire thing, in his desperation to have her back by his side once more.

But even his fading hope couldn't stop him from talking to her.

Every night, when they were alone again, Killian would tell her about everything that had happened while she'd been sleeping. When he was finished with his tales, he would read from the Storybrooke Mirror, to try and keep her up to date with what was going on in town. And when he'd exhausted that, he'd turn back to her favorite novels.

On the nights when he couldn't face the cheesy romance from some of the books he'd downloaded, he'd find himself singing to her. Sometimes it was just humming the tunes that had been playing in the café, when he'd gone down to try and clear his head a little. They'd lodge themselves inside of his mind, and humming them back to Emma felt like a way of sharing more of his day with her, even if she didn't understand why.

Other times it was songs he'd grown up listening to, or that had always made him think of her. Killian did anything he could think to make sure that when she did wake up, she'd know that she wasn't alone.

So as he made his way around her room that evening, cleaning up from the day, he hummed along to a couple of the songs that had been on his mind for a while. It was nice to keep busy, even if all he was doing was stacking magazines and papers, and pushing away chairs. It gave him a small sense of purpose, and helped him to stop dwelling upon the hopelessness that was rapidly filling him with every minute that passed.

"K… Ki… Killian?"

The magazines in his hand fell to the floor with a soft rustle, as he turned back to face the woman resting in the bed. Her eyes were still shut, but there was definitely something different about her.

"Emma?" he whispered back, before jogging the short distance over to her bedside. "Oh my God. Emma, Love? Can you hear me?"

When his hand found hers, she gave the tips of his first two fingers a gentle squeeze, and Killian wanted to weep with the relief that was busy flooding his system in that instant.

"Oh, Sweetheart. I'm here. I'm right here," he promised her, as he leaned in to brush a firm kiss to her forehead. "Can you open your eyes for me, Love?"

Killian lifted her hand to his lips to brush a series of soft kisses across her knuckles, as he watched her face closely. It took her a moment, but the gentle flutter of her lashes as she worked hard to blink her eyes open, was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen.

"Oh, Emma," he sobbed. "I've missed you so much, my love."

She turned her head painfully slowly until her left cheek was resting against her pillow. But all of her focus was on the man who sat beside her bed, crying soft tears while he watched her every move like a hawk.

"Are you in any pain?" he worried, as she struggled to keep her eyes open.

"T.. thr… throat," she croaked out.

Killian watched as she made to move her right arm, and then stopped suddenly when a look of agony twisted over her face.

"Hey, hey, hey," he soothed, reaching out to run a gentle hand over her hair. "It's okay. It's okay, Love. You don't have to move. I'm um… I'm gonna go and get a doctor. I don't want to give you anything that could hurt you right now. But I'll be right back, Emma. Don't go back to sleep just yet, okay?"

Emma nodded her head slowly as she allowed her eyes to slide closed once more, while Killian forced himself to let go of her hand and stand up. Even then, it took him a moment longer to get his feet to move over towards the door, and away from the woman that he loved.

Thankfully, when he poked his head out of the room, the first person he saw was nurse Janet, and she met his gaze with a small smile.

"Emma's awake," he told her softly. The tone of his voice was a complete contrast to the relief and happiness that was practically bursting from the seams of his body, looking for a way out of him. "But her throat hurts her. Can I uh… can I give her some cool water?"

"I'll call Doctor Whale for you now," she assured him. "Don't do anything until he gets here."

"I won't," Killian promised, before closing the door to make his way back over to Emma's side. She still had her head turned in the direction of his chair, but with her eyes closed he couldn't tell if she'd fallen back to sleep, or if she was just resting.

"Emma?"

Those beautiful green eyes slid open sluggishly, and he sank back down into his seat with the widest of smiles breaking over his face. Killian reached out a tender hand to run gently over the side of her face, as he pushed those last few errant strands of hair back behind her ear.

"Doctor Whale's on his way," he told her. "Can you stay awake for me until he gets here, Sweetheart?"

Emma nodded her head slowly once more, like the movement itself was difficult for her to perform. But it didn't stop her from turning her face into the hand that was resting gently against the side of her neck.

"I love you. I love you so much," he whispered, as he pressed another kiss to the back of her hand. "I love you, Emma."

Killian only pulled his eyes away from her face when Doctor Whale pushed into the room. The way his coat was billowing out behind him gave away the urgency with which he'd been moving, even as he kept a straight face.

"Hey there," he sighed, as he took in her open eyes and change of position. "It's good to see you again, Sheriff. You've had a lot of people worried for a very long time."

Emma said nothing, but she did turn her head back slowly to face the ceiling, as the doctor made his approach. Whale took a moment to check over the monitors that were still attached to various wires on her body, before he moved in a little closer to run a few simple tests.

Killian kept his gaze entirely focused on Emma while Whale worked. He didn't want to get in the doctor's way, but he couldn't seem to keep himself from her side. So he focused instead on pressing soft kisses to the back of her hand, and squeezing her fingers gently, whenever she worked up the strength to squeeze his back.

"Okay," Whale finally declared, "Everything's looking good so far, Emma. Your fiancé tells me that your throat is feeling a little tender, so I've sent one of the nurses to grab you some water to sip on. It's probably going to take a while for that feeling to pass, but it will do eventually. I promise."

Emma nodded her understanding in her own sluggish way, and the doctor relaxed a little at the sight of it.

"Do you know where you are?" he asked softly.

"H… hos… hosp..."

"That's right," Whale interrupted for her. He didn't want her to use her voice any more than she needed to, and he already knew where her answer was going. But he had a few basic questions that he would need her to answer, before he could leave the lovers to enjoy their reunion. "And do you know what year it is?"

"T.. twe… twenty… six…"

"Sixteen," he finished for her. "Well done, Emma. You're doing really well. And I'm so sorry to make you answer these right now. Last one for me tonight, and then I'll let you get some rest, okay?"

Emma nodded her head even as her eyes slid shut once more.

"Do you know why you're here?"

Both Whale and Killian seemed to hold their breath as they waited for Emma's answer. When it came, it was in the form of a gentle sway of her head, as one single tear escaped from her left eye.

"It's okay," Killian jumped in to assure her. "It's okay, Emma. Everything going to be okay, Sweetheart. I promise."

He lifted her hand back to his mouth to press more kisses to it, hoping that she would take some form of comfort from them, as he watched her struggle to come to terms with everything that she must be feeling, now that she was awake.

Whale reached out to squeeze his friend's shoulder gently in solidarity, as he cleared the lump in his throat to tell her, "It's alright, Emma. We can cover this in more detail when you're feeling up to it, okay? Right now, I just need you to focus on getting better for me. The rest can come later."

Emma nodded her head once to show that she'd heard him, before she turned it away again, likely to hide her tears.

"I'll leave you guys alone for the night. Use the call button if you need _anything_."

Killian hesitated for a moment, his eyes flicking between the doctor already moving towards the door, and Emma in the bed, before he stood up suddenly. "I'll be right back," he whispered to his girlfriend, before following Whale from the room.

When the door was just an inch away from being shut behind him, he reached out for Whale's arm, and turned the guy back to face him as he asked quietly, "What about her injuries? Doesn't someone need to explain them to her?"

"Yes. And I will," he promised. "She's just woken up and she knows that something's happened. But right now, her mind is probably a chaotic mess trying to take everything in, as its fights off the last of the sedation. I'm not gonna add to that tonight. Especially when there's no guarantee that she'll actually remember what we say to her right now. It can wait a little longer until she's more aware of what's going on around her."

"Okay," Killian agreed. Because now that Emma was awake, he knew that the next hurdle to cross would be explaining all that had happened to her. And deep down, Killian knew that seeing her reaction to everything that she had lost, would hurt more than _anything_ else that had come before it. "Thanks, Victor. For everything."

"You don't need to thank me," the doctor assured him. "I'm uh… I'm just gonna go and call Ruby so she can spread the good news to everyone. But I'm on shift all night. So if you need me, have Janet call me."

As soon as Whale turned to head down the corridor, Killian span on his heels to make his way back to Emma's bedside, with Janet only a few steps behind him. Emma had her head turned and her eyes closed, but he could tell that she was still there.

He didn't know how, but Killian could feel it in his gut.

"Welcome back, Sheriff" Janet offered softly, as she placed a small plastic cup onto the table at the side of the room, along with a jug of water and a few straws. "Take small sips for me, okay? We missed having you around."

Emma nodded her head gently to show that she'd heard the nurse, but she didn't attempt to say anything else. Not that anyone had expected her to. So as Janet excused herself from the room with a relieved smile, Killian poured a small glass of water and slipped one of the straws into it, before bringing it around to Emma's side.

He debated for a moment about where to position himself, before perching precariously on the edge of her bed, just above her hips, as carefully as he could. Emma gave no sign of being in pain from his movement, so he took that as a good sign.

"Do you wanna face forward for me here, Love?" he asked, as his free hand moved to smooth her hair back once more. "I don't wanna spill this all over you."

Emma offered him her very first smile of the day as she gently rolled her head back around, before forcing her eyes open once more to look up at him.

"You're so beautiful," Killian told her, allowing his fingers to stroke tenderly along her jawline. "I've missed that smile."

She did her best to offer him another one, as he gently slipped his hand behind her head to lift it from the bed, and then raised the cup to her mouth. It took a moment for the two of them to combine their movements in order for Emma to suck the straw between her lips, but once she had, he could see the relief those first few sips brought to her.

"Does that feel a little better?" he asked, keeping his gaze firmly fixed on his love, while he gently eased her back down to the bed, before sliding the cup safely onto the table behind him.

"Yeah," Emma whispered softly, and Killian found his smile brightening once more at the sound of it.

There was a moment of silence between the two of them, as they each took some time to study the face of the person they loved most in the world. But it was shattered when Emma finally spoke again.

"Wha… what ha… happened?"

"You were hurt on duty," he told her simply. "But try not to worry about it just yet, okay? Doctor Whale will explain everything when you're feeling a little better, Sweetheart."

Emma nodded her understanding while her fingers reached out for his hand, where it was resting against the bed. Killian tangled them together without a second thought, as he brought his other hand back up to gently stroke the hair that framed her face.

"I love you."

"You… too," she mumbled back quietly.

He leaned in until her eyes met his, before he closed the distance between the two of them to brush the lightest of kisses to her lips. It had felt like so long since she'd last returned his affection, that when he felt her move under him, he couldn't hold back the tears that had been gathering at the corners of his eyes.

Killian pulled back after only a few seconds, careful to not overwhelm her. But he needn't have worried. Emma took a moment longer to open her eyes, but when she did, she asked, "Is tha… all you got… Jones?"

His sharp bark of laughter was so loud in the silence of the room, but it brought a small smile to his love's lips once more. And as far as Killian was concerned, that was the only thing that mattered.

"When you're out of this bed, I'll show you what else I have," he promised. But he did lean in to brush another kiss over her lips, before moving off the bed to sit beside it again.

Emma seemed to be fighting hard against the pull of sleep, and as much as he wasn't quite ready to let her go again, he also didn't want her to suffer any more.

"Close your eyes, Love. I'll still be here when you're ready to open them again."

"Promise?" she asked. But her voice was beginning to slur from her exhaustion, making the word hard to get out, and even harder to understand.

"I promise. I love you, Emma."

"You… too," she whispered back, as she finally let her eyes slide closed once more, and allowed the darkness to claim her again.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	42. Chapter 42

**Sorry for the delay with this one. If you don't follow me on Tumblr, you probably won't know that I had some work issues, and then my husband had a small accident which delayed my progress.**

* * *

When Killian opened his eyes the next morning it was still dark outside the windows of Storybrooke General. For a moment, he wasn't really sure what had woken him. That feeling of dread that he'd been startling awake with, while Emma had been unconscious, was suspiciously absent. And he was certain his dreams had been more pleasant than they had been for the last three weeks combined. His face creased a little with his confusion.

Until he felt it.

Soft fingers were running through his hair, so lightly that it barely felt like they were moving at all.

"Hey, Beautiful," he murmured, keeping his eyes closed for just a moment longer, to savor the feel of her touch. There had been a time, not too long ago, where he had worried that he'd never get to feel it again.

"Hi," she whispered back, her throat rough from its lack of use.

Killian looked around himself quickly before grabbing for the cup of water he'd stood to one side, a few hours earlier. He reached out to run the backs of his fingers down the side of Emma's face, before standing up to empty out the water that had grown lukewarm since it was last needed. Emma's eyes tracked his movement around the room as he brought the cup back over to where Janet had left the fresh jug of water, before she turned to face forward as he perched himself on the edge of her bed once more.

"Okay, Sweetheart," he whispered, slipping his free hand behind her head to help her sit forward a little. When she was as comfortable as she could get, Emma leaned in to suck the straw between her lips. "Small sips for me," he encouraged gently, as her eyes fluttered shut with her relief.

When she pulled back he gently eased her down to the bed once more, as he slid the cup onto the side of the table. Killian's hand found hers with practiced ease, lifting it to his lips to brush a kiss over the back of her knuckles.

"You should have woken me," he chided gently.

Emma's wiggled her fingers free to reach out and trace the dark circles under his eyes. It was her own silent way of telling him that she knew just how exhausted he was, and that she had wanted to let him rest.

Killian pressed a sweet kiss to the pads of her fingers, before he lowered their hands to tangle together on the bed between them.

"You can always wake me, Emma. I've missed you."

"How… how long?" she eventually asked, her voice trembling a little with her concerns.

He hesitated for a brief moment, wondering just how much he should be telling her so soon. But in the end, it was the worry behind Emma's eyes that had Killian answering her question truthfully.

"Three weeks. Give or take a few days. I'm uh… I'm not actually sure what day we're on," he chuckled bitterly. Keeping track of the date had been one of the lowest priorities for him, while Emma had been recovering.

"Three?" she croaked out, her eyes screwing shut against the implications of that number.

"You had us all _really_ worried, Emma."

It was the biggest understatement of the century, but it was the only way he could put into words how the last three weeks of his life had been, without scaring her silly. When she was ready, and the time was right, he'd explain everything he'd been through during that time.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. The words were spoken so quietly that he almost missed them, over the sound of the thoughts rushing through his own mind.

"Don't you _dare_ apologize for this, Emma. You didn't do anything wrong. You _fought._ You fought so fucking hard to come back to us. And that's the only damned thing that matters right now."

Her head turned back around so that her eyes would meet his, and the tears that were building there broke his heart. Killian knew that she must be scared and confused about what had happened to her. And he couldn't begin to imagine what kind of pain she was dealing with right then.

"Don't cry, Sweetheart." He reached up to brush away her tears, before sliding his hand around to weave his fingers into the back of her hair. Killian couldn't help but notice how badly tangled it was. When she was moving a little more freely, he'd ask Ruby to bring a hairbrush to the hospital, so that he could fix it for her.

"I wish I could hold you right now," he told her.

Emma turned her face into her boyfriend's hand, seeking as much comfort from him as her battered body would allow. It didn't take her long to fall asleep again, the exhaustion pulling her back under as her body worked to fix itself. But it took Killian much longer to shut off the thoughts running through his mind, and close his own eyes once more.

* * *

When Ruby arrived at the hospital the next morning with her grandmother and Sinéad just behind her, she wasn't surprised to find David and Mary-Margaret already sat in the small café, sipping coffee as they talked quietly amongst themselves. Victor's call the night before had seemed like part of a dream, when she'd first taken it. She hadn't been able to stop herself from checking the handset every few hours, just to confirm that he'd actually called her, as she tried unsuccessfully to drift back to sleep.

Victor had asked to meet them all before they headed up to see their friend that morning, and the café had been chosen for ease. So while her grandmother made her way over to the counter, to order some coffee, she and Sinéad took their seats to wait for the doctor's arrival.

"What do you think he wants to tell us?" David asked, as his leg bounced a little restlessly against the floor.

While hearing that Emma was awake and talking had helped to reassure everyone a little, they all knew that seeing her in a state of consciousness would relieve the panic and concern that they had all been carrying for so long.

"It's probably just the usual warning that she might not be awake while we're in there, and not to worry," Ruby replied. It was the same thing her boyfriend had told her the night before, when he'd made the call. Apparently, coming out of sedation was like swimming against the current during a storm. The medication would continue to pull her down and under those waves of drowsiness, as her body fought to repair the damage it had suffered. Emma would have to fight hard to push herself back up to the surface, whenever consciousness was in her grasp.

Ruby pulled out her phone to send a quick message to her boyfriend, to let him know that they were all in the café, and then accepted the paper cup of crappy coffee that was being offered her way. "We really need to talk Killian into replacing the coffee machine here," she chuckled, as she took her first sip.

Sinéad snorted out a laugh next to her. "I'm sure it's already on his list of things to do for this hospital when Emma leaves it. He's just been a little too distracted to care about the quality of the coffee."

"I think we all have," Granny assured her new friend. "But if he wants to send one my way too, I wouldn't complain."

A short bark of laughter passed around the table, but the mood was shattered when Whale's familiar white coat came into view, quickly followed by the man himself. He shot a brief glance around the space before taking a deep breath in, as he headed over to their group. After dropping a quick kiss to his girlfriend's lips, he grabbed a free chair from a nearby table, and sat it between Mary-Margaret and Granny before taking his seat.

"What's going on?" David asked, as he took in the guy's form. Whale had lost that air of cockiness that he'd always seemed to have in the hospital, over the last few weeks. When combined with everything the guy had done to help Emma out during her time there, the deputy had discovered a whole new level of respect for him. "Is Emma…?"

"She's okay," Whale rushed to assure them all. "She's actually doing really well. Jones said she woke again a couple of times in the middle of the night. They were only brief moments, but it's a very good sign. She's doing much better than we could have anticipated."

"So why do you look like someone just kicked your puppy?" David pressed, even as his wife threw out an arm to slap some sense into him.

"Because it means that her awareness is returning faster than I had expected. So I'm going to need to explain what happened to her sooner than I thought I would. It's why I asked you all to meet me here first."

"What does that mean?" Ruby worried.

"I had planned to give you today with her," Whale explained. "A day where you could just enjoy seeing her awake again, and have some small conversations with your friend. But I don't think I can do that now. As her awareness grows, she's going to start taking notice of the damage to her body. And she's going to want answers."

The doctor paused for a moment as he tried hard not to think about the conversation that lay ahead of him. While he and Emma had never been overly close, explaining to someone that they may never have children, was not a conversation anyone ever wanted to have. And it certainly wasn't one he wanted to have with his girlfriend's best friend.

"I want to give her some explanations before her mind can begin to come up with the worst-case scenarios for what's happened. And I don't think she'll be in the mood for visitors again when she hears everything that I need to say to her."

Mary-Margaret reached over to give the doctor's arm a gentle squeeze of support. She knew what he wasn't saying; what he'd have to tell Emma, when she was more alert. And her heart ached for him. Whale had become a doctor because he'd wanted to help people. Seeing them suffer with the news that he sometimes had to deliver must have cut him deeply each and every time. And she had no idea how he'd managed to do it for as long as he had.

"It's okay," she assured him. "We understand. Thank you, for giving us some time with Emma first. Even if it is only a handful of minutes."

Whale nodded his thanks to Mary-Margaret for her understanding, but instead of immediately leaving, he took a moment just to enjoy the noise of the small café. It wasn't loud, by any means. But it certainly held more of a buzz than the ward Emma was currently resting on. And it had a far better atmosphere than the ICU did. All too soon his need to help drove him back to his feet, and after brushing another quick kiss to his girlfriend's lips, Whale left with a promise that they could head up to see Emma when they were ready, and that he would be around all morning if they needed him.

The small group of friends didn't immediately rush up to Emma's room, though. Everyone seemed to know that the others needed a moment to prepare themselves before seeing their friend again. To control that swell of emotion that had come in the early hours of the morning, when they'd finally gotten that call. Emma had been through a lot, and she was still going through more than any of them could ever imagine. The last thing she needed was to see her friends for the first time in weeks, and have them all sobbing over her bed.

David was the first to rise, when he'd finished his drink. He took a moment to clear away the trash that had accumulated on the table between them all, as Ruby drained the last of her own coffee and stood from her seat. The others slowly followed suit, taking their time to finish mentally preparing themselves, before they headed out of the small café, and through the familiar halls that would lead to Emma's room.

Mary-Margaret was just about to push through the door when Sinéad hesitated a little, looking back to the entrance of the ward as though she wasn't quite sure she belonged where she was.

"Emma would want to see you," the other woman told Killian's mother, as everyone else turned back to face her.

"I'm not so sure that's true," Sinéad chuckled bitterly. "And I don't want to overstep. Or get in anyone's way. I can wait in the café for you guys, though?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Ruby chided. "She'll be thrilled to know that you came all of this way to support Killian. She's probably gonna be more worried about _him,_ than she will be about herself. So trust me, she won't mind having you in that room with us all."

Sinéad offered the young woman a small smile of thanks, and nodded her agreement. She would leave if her presence made Emma uncomfortable. That was the last thing she wanted to do, while her son's girlfriend was coming out of her coma. But she couldn't deny that she was looking forward to finally being able to officially meet the woman. Because Sinéad had a feeling that Emma Swan would be playing a rather large part in the rest of her life.

When Mary-Margaret and David finally pushed their way through the door to Emma's room, they were both a little disappointed to find it silent. Killian was sat in his usual place by Emma's bed, reading the paper. But as they made their way further inside, a soft smile started to work its way over Mary-Margaret's face.

Emma might have been sleeping that morning, but the signs that she'd been conscious at some point in the evening were glaringly obvious. She had her head and upper body twisted ever-so-slightly, so that she was facing the chair her fiancé was sat in. Her body looked more natural than it had done under sedation. While she was relatively still while she slept, there was something about the way her eyes flickered beneath her lids, that made her seem more human than she had while she'd been in her coma. And her hand was resting possessively over Killian's wrist, gripping it lightly as though she needed that connection to him, just as much as he needed it from her.

"Good morning," Mary-Margaret whispered, as she made her way over to Emma's side to press a kiss to her friend's forehead. "How is she doing?"

"Good. I think," Killian chuckled. "She's uh... her throat's tender from the ventilator, so she's struggling to speak for long periods of time. But she woke a couple of times in the night for a few minutes, and she remembers me. So I'm taking that as a good sign."

"That's definitely a good sign," she agreed, before dropping her voice again to a whisper. "Whale said that she didn't know about her injuries yet."

"She knows about her shoulder. She tried moving her arm last night and got a painful answer as to what had happened there. And she knows that she's been out of things for a while. I don't think she's as clueless as any of us hope she is," he whispered back sadly, folding the paper to drop it down to the floor, as he leaned in to brush a kiss over his girlfriend's forehead.

When he looked up again the room was full of the people who loved Emma the most, each taking in the changes in her body, and smiling a little easier as they did. But as they took their own seats in the small space, an awkward silence seemed to descend over them all.

"You can talk," Killian chuckled, as he settled himself back into the chair more comfortably, and picked up Emma's hand to hold between his own. "From what I understand, when she's sleeping she's pretty much out of things. She'll wake again when she's ready."

David nodded his understanding, before he launched into a story about the mess that Leo had made that morning, with his cereal. It seemed to help everyone else relax a little more, as they all adjusted their expectations for the morning. But Killian didn't miss the way their eyes continued to dart back over to Emma's face every few minutes, in the hopes of seeing their friend awake once more.

* * *

Sinéad was part-way through what Killian considered to be one of her most embarrassing stories about his childhood, when the pressure on his fingers increased ever-so-slightly.

"Emma?" he asked, turning away from the people he'd spent the morning getting to know even better. He dropped his head down onto the bed beside his girlfriend, and brought his free hand up to run softly through her hair. "Can you hear me, Sweetheart?"

The pressure on his fingers increased once more, and he wanted to laugh with the relief it brought to his system.

"It's okay, Love. Take your time," he assured her. "I'm here."

He wasn't sure how long he sat there, patiently waiting for her eyes to open once more. His neck was protesting the painful angle he'd forced himself to rest at, but he didn't complain. Killian would never again complain about any slight ache or pain in his life, knowing what Emma had been through.

The moment her eyelashes gently fluttered open he heard someone gasp from somewhere just behind him. But he couldn't pull his eyes away from the beautiful green ones trying hard to focus on his face, to see who was responsible for it.

"I bet… you were… a cute kid," she told him, and he released that bark of laughter that he'd been holding in.

"I'm sure you were too," he assured her, as he leaned in to brush a soft kiss over her lips. Killian spent a moment just enjoying watching her watch him, before he turned his head slightly to ask, "Ruby, there's a cup just behind me on the table. Can you empty it out and put some fresh water into it for me?"

"Of course," she told him, before hurrying to do as he'd asked.

"Who?" Emma whispered, her voice sounding painfully raw.

"I think it would probably be easier to tell you who _wasn't_ here," he chuckled.

When he sensed Ruby's presence beside him, he pulled himself out of the chair to take his usual place on the edge of the bed, that he'd found the night before. As the brunette slipped the cup into his hand, Emma's head rolled slowly around to face the ceiling above her. Killian leaned in to brush a series of soft kisses down her nose and over her lips, before slipping his free hand back behind her head to help pull her forward.

"Slowly," he warned again, as he raised the straw towards her mouth, to let her take what she needed. When Emma finally pulled back, Ruby took the plastic cup from his hands to stand on the side once more, as he gently eased his girlfriend back down to the bed. "How are you feeling, Sweetheart?"

"Sore," she admitted honestly, and he cringed a little at the word. "My hips…"

"You uh… you did a lot of damage to your pelvis," he explained vaguely. "Whale will be here soon. He knows more of the technical stuff than I do. So try not to worry until then. Do you need me to call a nurse so that we can get you some more meds?"

She shook her head slowly as her hand lifted to trace the dark circles under his eyes.

"I love you," Killian whispered, turning his head to press his lips against her hand.

"I love you too."

There was a moment of comfortable silence between the two of them, before Killian finally remembered that there were others in the room, and turned as best as he could to bring them into the conversation.

"There are uh… there are quite a few people here happy to see you again, Beautiful," he told her, as he covered her hand with his own and brought it down to rest in his lap. He made as if to move from his position on the bed, to give Emma more space to look around herself. But she stopped him by squeezing his fingers as tightly as she could.

She needed his reassuring presence as close as she could get it right then. Because something was becoming painfully apparent to her, and she wasn't sure how to voice her concerns. So Emma tried to push the intrusive thoughts aside, as she turned her head a little to face the group of people stood beside her bed.

"Hey," she whispered quietly, and Mary-Margaret burst into tears.

"Hey, Ems." Ruby's own smile was a little watery, but she managed to keep her emotions in check, as she sank down into the seat that Killian had vacated. "You look like shit."

Emma laughed at her friend's words even though the movement pulled painfully on both her lower tummy, and her shoulder.

"Sorry. I uh… I'm just so happy to see you again," Ruby told her, as she reached out to gently squeeze the hand resting over Emma's chest, in a sling. "We were worried about you."

"I'm sorry. I don't…" Emma screwed her eyes shut as she tried hard to recall images from before. The memories of the past few months were crystal clear. Everything from her very first encounter with Killian Jones, in an elevator in Boston, up to the memories of saying goodbye to him in Chicago. But things became hazier with the more she pushed to recall what had happened, in the days that followed that weekend. "I can't…"

"It's okay," Killian rushed to assure her, as he reached out to smooth a hand over the lines creasing her face. "Don't try and push it, Love. They'll come back to you when you're ready."

"Killian's right," her friend added. "Don't make yourself worse trying to push it. If they come back to you then that's great. If they don't, then they don't."

Emma nodded her understanding and closed her eyes for a moment, but Killian could tell from the tight set of her jaw that she hated having so much missing time in her memories. It was a hole he knew she'd prod at, until she either became too frustrated to keep going, or until some of it began to fill with flashes of those days.

He hoped like hell that it would be the former option.

When Emma opened her eyes again, she turned back around to face the people who had gathered to see her. "Shouldn't you all be working?" she chuckled, before her eyes snapped back to her boyfriend's face. "Wait. Shouldn't…"

"No," he cut her off fiercely. "I'm right where I should be, Emma."

"But you…"

"It's fine," he stated firmly. "They have it covered. The writers will find a way to make it work without me for now. They're creative people. I'm not going anywhere until you're well enough to come with me."

Her eyes began to shine with the tears that were building at his words, as she raised her hand to trace the outline of his lips softly with her fingers. Killian pressed a gentle kiss to them before he leaned down to brush another over her lips and cheeks.

"I don't deserve you," she whispered into his ear, as her hand came up to run through the back of his hair.

"Yes, you do." He pressed another kiss to her lips and then pulled back to give the others their chance to speak with Emma, before she lost her battle with exhaustion once more.

Whale had spoken to him that morning, when he'd been in to check her readings. Killian knew that the plan was to tell Emma about what had happened to her sooner, rather than later. And he knew that it was going to be a difficult moment for everyone involved. Emma would likely attempt to push the people closest to her away, while she tried to process everything. So the last thing he wanted to do was steal too much of the time she would get with her friends, before the news was delivered.

But when her eyes moved over the others in the room, they caught on the one person he'd almost forgotten was there, given that she was hovering a little further back.

"I'm sorry, do we…?" Emma trailed of as she turned her attention back to the man sat beside her, and Killian could see the worry behind her eyes. The fear that she'd met this strange person before, but now couldn't remember that encounter, thanks to what had happened.

"No, Sweetheart," he assured her, as he urged his mother to move a little closer to the bed. "This is my mam, Sinéad Jones. She uh… she came out to make sure that you were doing okay."

"You did?" Emma turned her attention back to the only stranger in the room. Now that she'd moved a little closer to the bed, she could tell who Sinéad Jones was. The woman's eyes were the same shape and color as the ones that shone back at her every time she looked at the man she loved, and the two of them had the same colored hair.

"It's nice to meet you, Emma. I only wish it had been under better circumstances," Sinéad offered. "My son speaks very highly of you. So of course I came out to make sure that the woman who had stolen his heart was doing okay, after he told me what had happened to you."

Emma's eyes flicked between Killian's and his mother's a few times, before they eventually settled on the other woman. "Thank you," she told her. "For taking care of him." Because even without being told what had happened, Emma knew that someone needed to be taking care of her man, while he was busy taking care of her.

"Of course. How are you feeling?" the older woman asked, dropping down to a crouch beside the bed. "Is there anything we can get for you, Sweetheart? Any home comforts that you'd like whilst you're stuck here, or any food and drink for when you're given the all clear?"

Killian felt a little bad for not making the offer himself. But this was what his mother did best, and it was what he was hoping she'd be able to do for Emma, while she was in the country. His girlfriend might have grown up without a mother in her life, but if there was ever a time where she needed one, it was now, more than ever before. And Sinéad Jones was definitely the best person he knew to fill that role.

"I uh… I don't know," Emma replied lamely, screwing her eyes closed once more with her frustration. She hated how scattered her thoughts were.

"It's okay," Killian's mother assured her, as she reached out to rest her hand gently on Emma's forearm. "If you think of anything that would help, just let us know. We want this to be as easy and comfortable for you as it can be. So I don't think any of us would object to running around town a little, to make that happen for you. Well, Killian might. But he's good at delegating."

"Thank you." The small words were whispered so softly into the room, but everyone there could feel the weight behind them. Emma didn't often accept help, and rarely from people she didn't know. But it seemed like she was ready to make some exceptions to those rules of hers. "Just… keep taking care of him for me?" she asked, as she flicked her eyes back over to her boyfriend's hunched form. "He looks exhausted."

"Hey, _he's_ sitting right here," Killian protested, with humor dancing behind his eyes.

"Hush, Honey. This isn't about you," his mother interjected, before she turned her attention back to Emma. "Of course I will. But you need to promise to let the rest of us take care of you too. Killian tells me you're a little stubborn and strong willed at times. Much like he is."

"Mam!" he protested. Because his girlfriend had only known her for a handful of minutes, and his mother was already embarrassing him.

Sinéad just waved away his complaints, as she pushed herself back to her feet and leaned over to brush a kiss to Emma's temple. "I'm gonna go and do a coffee run for everyone, and give you some time alone with your friends. Are you sure I can't bring you anything back?"

"Coffee sounds good right now," Emma chuckled bitterly. She didn't even need to call for Whale to know that he wouldn't let her have any.

"When you're feeling better, we'll steal Killian's credit card and buy the café here a new coffee machine," Sinéad promised, as she gave Emma's arm one final squeeze. "I'll be back soon. I just need to call my eldest son to see if my husband has destroyed our house, while I've been gone. Killian knows how to reach me if you can think of anything you need while I'm out."

"Thank you, Mrs Jones."

The other woman turned back with her hand on the door knob, and Killian caught the glimmer of tears forming in the corner of her eyes as she did. "It's Sinéad," his mother told Emma. "You can call me Sinéad."

She left without another word, needing a moment just to compose herself, away from the scrutiny of the others in the room.

While Killian's mother was gone, Emma's friends made small talk with her in an attempt to keep her awake and engaged. Nobody wanted to bring up anything too heavy, in case it triggered a reaction in their friend that would hinder her recovery. But when her eyes began to droop and her speech started to slur from her exhaustion, they knew it was time to say their reluctant goodbyes for the day.

"You'll be back?" she asked, as David leaned in to press a kiss to his friend's cheek.

He'd remained oddly silent throughout the morning, but after what he'd seen when he found Emma that fateful day in the woods, he'd been more than happy to just sit back and watch as his friend spoke with the people around her. Because if he was being completely honest with himself, when his flashlight beam had first fallen over her body, laying so battered and broken on the forest floor, David hadn't thought that she'd ever be speaking to anyone else again.

"We'll be back, Ems. We'll be here as soon as visiting hours start," he promised, before moving back to let his wife take his place.

"Okay," Emma sighed, as she let her eyes fall closed and turned her head slightly.

The others said their goodbyes as quickly as they could, but by the time the door finally closed behind them, Emma had already been dragged back under.

* * *

Killian took advantage of those precious few hours where Emma slept. He knew they would probably be the last before her world was turned upside down once more, and he wanted to savor the calm that came with them.

He watched as her face creased with her concern, and then relaxed with her relief, while she dreamed. He took a moment just to appreciate how beautiful her lashes looked, as they rested against her cheekbones with her eyes closed. Her entire upper body had seemed to twist in his direction, searching for her partner as best she could. And her fingers twitched in his hand, a sure sign that she was coming out from under the medication faster than anyone had expected.

When his legs became a little restless he forced himself up and out of his seat, to tidy the small hospital room once more. He placed dirty disposable cups into the trash can, and tucked away chairs that had been moved around to better suit the size of their group.

As he made his way around the room, Killian hummed a few of the tunes that had been stuck in his mind, more out of habit than anything else. So when he stopped to flick through a magazine that Ruby had left behind, he was surprised to hear a small voice ask, "Keep going?"

"I thought you were sleeping," he chuckled.

"I was." She didn't say anything else, but she didn't really need to. Killian could see the haunted look behind her eyes, which shattered his illusions that she'd been having pleasant dreams.

"What did you see?" he asked, as he dropped the magazine onto the neat pile he'd made, in favor of heading back to Emma's side. As soon as he was in his seat he reached for her hand, linking their fingers together as he brought it up to his lips.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "I just… I felt it." Her eyes slid closed for a moment and Killian briefly wondered if she was falling back to sleep. But when she spoke again, her voice was barely above a whisper. "I felt… Scared. And alone."

"You're not," he told her firmly. "You're not alone now, Emma. And you never will be again. I promise you that."

"You can't make that promise," she countered, turning back around to face him. "But I love you for wanting to."

Killian's head dropped down to rest on the pillow beside her own, as his eyes screwed shut. He really wished that it had been a promise that he could make and keep for her. But he knew that deep down, Emma was right. There was no practical way for him to assure her that she'd never be alone again. So instead, he made one that he knew he could keep.

"Then I promise that no matter what happens, I will _always_ come back to you, Emma. Always."

She wiggled her face a little closer to his to brush soft kisses over his closed eyes, before freeing her hand to bring up and hold him close to her. For a long moment, the two lovers rested as they were, just taking comfort in being close to each other again, and from the knowledge that what they shared together was enough to stop them from ever truly being alone for long.

But all too soon, the question that had been niggling away in the back of Emma's mind made its presence well known once more, and instead of pushing it aside, she decided to voice it. If nothing else, Emma hoped that having an answer to it would at least help to calm her troubled mind.

"Killian," she whispered quietly, as she continued to run her fingers softly through his hair.

Her boyfriend hummed his acknowledgement at the sound of his name, but didn't lift his head. He was practically purring under the attention she was lavishing upon him, after suffering so long without it.

"Why can't I move my legs?"

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**


	43. Chapter 43

**As always, I am in no way a medical expert. What I have written here is based on hours of extensive research, but I'm happy to be corrected if any of it is wrong.**

 **WARNING - This chapter does deal with the loss of a child, and the emotional fallout of that. If this is something you're not comfortable reading, you'd probably be best skipping over this update completely.**

* * *

His head shot up from the bed as he stared down into the face of the woman he loved, horror coursing through every inch of his system, while his mind immediately supplied the obvious answer to that question.

 _What if the bullet had done more damage to her spine than Whale had initially thought?_

"I uh… I'm gonna call Doctor Whale, okay? He'll be right here, Love. Try not to panic too much, yeah?"

Emma reached out to squeeze his hand softly as he rose from his chair. It was her way of pointing out that in that moment, he was probably panicking more than she was. But Killian wasn't in the right frame of mind to pick apart her motives just then.

"I'll be right back," he assured her, as he dropped a kiss to her cheek, before moving over to the door and pulling it open. Whale didn't appear to be anywhere around, but he spotted Janet as she was making her way out of another room, and she turned to meet his eyes. "Can you grab Whale for me, please?" he asked. "Emma has some questions for him."

"Already?" The nurse's own face seemed to pale as she considered what was coming next, but she nodded her head in understanding while she reached for the phone, to call down to Whale's office.

Killian took a moment to suck in a few deep breaths before he turned back around and closed the door to Emma's room behind himself. He wasn't really sure what to say to reassure his girlfriend though, so as he made his way over to her side, he reached for her hand to lift to his lips.

"It's okay," Emma whispered. "It's all going to be okay."

"Shouldn't I be the one telling you that?"

Emma simply shrugged her one good shoulder as she turned her body as best she could, to face the man she loved. "If this is something serious," she began carefully.

"Then it won't change a damned thing," Killian cut her off furiously. "Nothing will ever change the way I feel about you, Emma. That's a promise I can confidently make to you."

The two sat in silence for a moment while they waited for Whale to join them, just drawing comfort from being in each other's presence. When the knock on the door sounded, Killian fought back the instinct inside of himself that was already cringing at what was coming, as he turned to greet the man who had become a friend, over the last three weeks.

"Good morning." Whale offered each of them a carefully composed smile, but Killian could see the reluctance behind it. The doctor didn't want to be in that room, delivering the news he had, any more than Killian wanted to hear it again. "Your fiancé tells me that you have some questions for me," he invited, as he took a seat on the table opposite Emma's bed.

"I uh… I can't… I can't move my legs," she whispered softly, but the shock of her words had Whale out of his position and beside her bed instantly.

"For how long?" he asked, as his eyes flew over the monitors to her left, while he reached for her chart.

"Maybe since I woke up?" Emma wasn't sure when that had been. All she knew was that she'd tried to move over that afternoon, to invite her love to squeeze onto the bed beside her. She'd wanted him to hold her, and she knew there wasn't enough space for that, given where she was laying. But she couldn't seem to make her legs cooperate with her wishes.

Whale spent a few seconds reading over the notes on Emma's chart before he pushed aside the blanket covering the lower half of her body, and ran the end of his pen gently down her leg. "Can you feel that?"

"Yeah," she said, as both of the men in the room seemed to release a collective sigh of relief.

"I'm gonna start at the bottom and work my way up. Tell me if there comes a point where you can't feel my touch, okay?" The doctor moved down and positioned the end of his pen over Emma's ankle, before slowly and carefully making his way up her lower leg, and towards her knee. At Emma's nod he carried on higher, slowly dragging the pen up towards the top of her thigh.

He was about two inches away from where one of the carbon rods emerged from her hip, when Emma stopped him with a firm, "There."

"Okay," he declared, making a quick note in her chart. "I'm gonna ask a specialist to come in and see you, just to be absolutely certain there's no damage there that I've missed. But I'm pretty sure that your lack of sensitivity in this area is related to the injuries you sustained, and the lack of movement you've had since then."

At Emma's confused look, Whale grabbed one of the free chairs from the other side of the bed, and pulled it in close.

"David was the one who found you," he began softly, and Emma's eyes fluttered closed at the mere thought of her friend being put in that position. She hated that she'd be the cause of his nightmares for months to come.

"He called for an ambulance, and when the call came through and we heard who needed us and why, I insisted on going with the EMTs. You were in bad shape, Emma. There were three entrance wounds and no exit wounds. Which meant that we knew the bullets were still inside of you. My team and I worked fast to try and stabilized you and clean you up as best we could, before we loaded you onto a trolley to get you back here. You crashed before we could get you down to x-ray to see how much damage had been done, and it took us thirteen minutes to resuscitate you. Those were the longest thirteen minutes of my entire career."

He paused for a moment as the memories of that day washed over the two men in the room, and Killian's grip on Emma's hand tightened slightly at the reminder of how close he had come to losing her.

"When we finally got you into an x-ray, we got a better picture of what had happened. The wound to your shoulder was actually the least of our worries. If it had been an inch higher, it probably would have killed you," he admitted reluctantly. "But as it wasn't, we were able to remove the bullet and fix the damage to the muscle as best we could, during surgery. I can't guarantee that you'll ever have full movement back in that shoulder, but I don't think you'll lose too much range," he assured her.

Whale paused for another long moment as he allowed Emma the time she needed to absorb his words. All three of them knew that whatever was coming next would be worse, but she still needed time to process the fact that she might never be able to fully stretch her arm out again. Because for anyone else, that would have been a life-changing injury.

"I'm not going back to work, am I?" she asked softly, as the thought suddenly hit her in the gut.

"I wouldn't recommend it," Whale agreed.

Emma's eyes screwed shut at his words. It was her own way of trying to hold back her tears, and Killian reached out to run soft fingers through her hair as soon as he realized that. "It's okay," he whispered to her. "It's okay, my love. We'll work something out when you're back on your feet. I promise you that."

When her eyes eventually opened again they turned towards Whale expectantly, and he took that as his cue to continue.

"One of the bullets broke one of your ribs. We think that when we were transporting you back to the bus, we may have jostled you a little, as your rib then punctured your lung. This was one of the first things we fixed for you during the surgery. A chest tube was inserted to drain the fluid and air that had built inside the space, and I used a surgical method to fix the damage to your rib, just to prevent any further incidents while you were healing. The last x-ray we took showed that your lung had almost fully recovered from the damage it had suffered. But I have to warn you that statistically speaking, those who have suffered a punctured lung in the past are at risk of it happening again."

"What does that mean?" Killian interjected, his voice wavering with his concern.

"It might mean nothing. But if you ever feel a sharp stabbing pain over that side of your chest, or experience difficulty breathing, get to a hospital as soon as you can and explain that you've suffered a punctured lung before. Okay?"

Killian nodded his understanding while Emma did the same thing. She could feel the dull ache in her chest where Whale had indicated that her rib had been broken, but now that he'd told her that she'd basically fully recovered from that injury, it felt less scary than she thought it would.

However, the silence that followed Whale's statements had her concerns rising again. Especially when she saw the looks that he exchanged with her boyfriend.

"What?" she asked, turning worried eyes to Killian.

He looked absolutely devastated, and Emma had to swallow back the sob building in her throat at the thought of what could have put that look on his face.

"The last bullet did the most damage," Whale explained. "It broke your pelvis, which is a pretty serious medical condition."

"Is that why I can't move my legs?" she asked.

"I would say so. A couple of specialists from Boston came down to fit what we call an external fixator, in order to set the break." Whale took a deep breath in and held it, before he stood from his seat and gently pulled back the sheets covering Emma's midsection. "It looks terrifying. I know that. But I promise it's not. And it'll come off soon."

It took Emma a long moment to realize that he was talking about something on her. From her position in the bed, she hadn't been able to see down her body all that well. So as she pushed herself up to try and get a look at what he was talking about, Killian stood to help ease her upper body away from the mattress.

The moment her eyes landed on the frame around her hips, she turned to bury her sob into her boyfriend's chest.

"It's alright," he assured her, as Whale fiddled with the controls on the bed, lifting the top half a little so that Emma would be resting at more of an angle, rather than flat on her back. "It's gonna be okay, Emma. It's coming off soon. And as long as it keeps you from bleeding out, I'll take this frame over the alternative."

He dropped down into his usual spot on the bed, to make himself a little more comfortable, as Emma sobbed quietly into his chest. Whale looked like he wanted to leave and give the two of them some privacy, but both he and Killian knew that the worst was still to come.

And Emma deserved to know what had happened to her.

When her tears finally ran dry, Killian eased her back onto the mattress to rest more comfortably, tucking the sheets around her like they would physically shield her from the pain that was coming, before he reached for her hand once more.

"Is that the worst of it?" Emma asked, her eyes drifting closed. The tears had worn her out, and she was ready to sleep again. But the tense silence that followed her question told her there was still more to come.

Whale exchanged another look with Killian, before he dropped back down into his own seat. "Emma," he began softly, and then stopped as he tried to think of how best to phrase what he needed to say.

"Sweetheart," Killian called out, drawing her eyes back to him. "Do you remember the weekend I spent here with you?"

"Of course." She nodded her head to emphasize her words, as he laced their fingers tightly together. There was no way she could _ever_ forget that weekend.

"And the time we spent together at the station. You remember that too, right?" It had taken Killian a while to put the pieces of their weekend together, along with the dates that Whale had given to him. But now that he had, he could pinpoint the exact moment the two of them had conceived their child.

Emma simply nodded her agreement.

"We got a bit carried away that morning, and we didn't take the kind of precautions that we should have, as a result of that."

Emma's face screwed up a little with her confusion. She couldn't understand why her boyfriend had felt the need to bring that moment up right then, especially while Whale was still in the room with them.

"Emma, did you notice anything after that weekend?" Killian prodded gently.

"I uh… I don't understand." Her exhaustion was making the confusion worse.

 _What did their time together have to do with her injuries?_

"Did… did someone see us? Is that why…?"

Whale jumped in to help out, not wanting to confuse Emma any more than she already was. "What Killian's trying to say, Emma, is that when you were shot, you were pregnant."

"No. I wasn't," she protested. She couldn't clearly remember the days leading up to the event, but she was certain that she'd have remembered finding out that she was pregnant.

"Yes, you were." Whale had never looked as serious as he did in that moment, which scared her more than she would ever admit. "I'm so sorry, Emma. That third bullet did significant damage to your uterus. I repaired what I could, but…"

He paused to scrub a harsh hand over his face, and Emma turned worried eyes back up to her boyfriend, who was biting down hard on his bottom lip to hold back his own tears.

The sob that left her at the sight of the two men's faces was heartbreaking.

"No."

"I'm sorry. I couldn't save your child," Whale whispered quietly. "I'm so sorry, Emma."

"No!" she protested more furiously, as she turned back to look at Killian, silently begging him to tell her it wasn't true. "Please, no."

"I'm sorry, Love," he whispered, bending forward to brush his lips over her brow. "I'm so sorry."

Whale turned away from the two lovers as Emma came to terms with the news that he'd just delivered, and cried for the loss of her child in the arms of her fiancé. He wanted to leave and give the two of them some time to process everything together. But he knew that he couldn't do so, without delivering his final blow.

So he waited in silence, his gaze focused on his feet, as Emma's harsh sobs turned to gentle tears, until she finally fell silent.

"There's just one more thing I need to tell you," he whispered into the stillness of the room.

"Can't it wait?" Killian demanded. "She's been through enough as it is."

Emma reached up to rest her palm against the side of his face, and her boyfriend twisted his head to press a kiss to the middle of it.

"I want to know," she told him. She looked exhausted… broken and defeated. Kilian hated seeing her that way. But he had never been able to refuse her wishes, so he simply nodded his agreement.

"As I said before," Whale began carefully, "There was significant damage to your womb. I repaired what I could, so that you'd have a chance of conceiving again in the future. But if I'm being completely honest, I'm afraid I don't think you'll ever carry another child to full term."

The room was deathly silent for the longest of moments as the news that had just been revealed hung in the air between the three people inside of it. Killian held his breath while he waited to see how his girlfriend would react.

"I'm so sorry, Emma," Whale offered genuinely, as he stood from his seat and headed for the door. "I'll leave you two alone. But you know where to find me, if you need anything."

Killian called out a rough thanks as he watched the door close behind the doctor, but Emma remained worryingly still and quiet on the bed.

"Sweetheart?" he asked, when he couldn't take the silence any longer.

Emma pulled her hand free from his and rolled as best she could to the other side of the bed, away from where her boyfriend was sat. It wasn't far, given how narrow the space was, and the fact that she couldn't move her legs, but Killian could feel that gulf opening up wide between the two of them, with every second that ticked by.

"Emma," he tried again, unable to keep the pleading tone from his voice.

"Go," she whispered. "I just… just need… leave me alone, Killian. _Please_."

Killian pushed himself to his feet with a sigh, but before he could make it to the end of her bed he found himself spinning back around to face her. The bubble of anger that had been growing inside of him since he'd found out that Emma had been hurt was rising up in his chest, making itself known. And he was too exhausted to fight it back down.

"No. You don't get to do that, Emma. You don't get to tell me to leave right now. Not now. Not after everything that's happened."

Emma screwed her eyes shut, almost as if she could block out the sound of his voice by doing so.

"Do you have _any_ idea what I've been through these past three weeks, Emma? Huh? Do you know what it feels like to be told that the woman I loved had been shot, and might not survive long enough for me to even be in the same fucking country as she was? What it was like to sit in that pissing waiting room while we all tried so hard not to imagine what was happening to you, that was taking so fucking long? Even when you were out of surgery you weren't out of danger. And then Whale pulled me aside to tell me _this._ To tell me that on top of the fact that the woman I loved might not survive, a child I didn't even know existed - _our child_ \- had died during the attack. Do you think that doesn't hurt me the way it hurts you? Do you think that news doesn't rip me apart every fucking day?"

He could see the tears falling from her eyes now. But Killian had held so much inside of himself for so long, that he wasn't sure he couldn't have stopped, even if she'd begged him to.

"I think about her every damned day, Emma. About her being down in the morgue all alone, because I couldn't bear to let the hospital dispose of her body as medical waste. I think about the kind of life we could have given her, if this hadn't happened. And then I remember that instead of picking out colors for her nursery, now we have to decide if we want to bury or cremate her remains. And it kills me. It tears me apart inside that I might not _ever_ get to see you pregnant with our child again. So don't you dare try and send me away right now, because this isn't just _your_ life anymore. This is _ours._ And you don't get to make those kinds of decisions alone."

"You should leave now. While you still can," she whispered quietly. "You said it yourself, I won't be able to give you any children. Find someone who can. Find someone who's worthy of you."

" _That's_ what you took from that?" he scoffed. "Fuck! Emma, I love _you_. I want _you_. I've just spent the worst fucking three weeks of my life worrying about how the hell I'd cope if anything happened to you. I don't care if you can't give me children. If it's a choice between you and no children, or someone else and having kids – I pick _you_ , Emma. I'd pick you every damned day. What's it gonna take for you to finally believe that I love you? That I want you? That I'm the one who's not worthy of _you_."

He turned on his heels to make his way back around to the chair besides Emma's bed, and dropped down heavily into it. His little outburst had taken everything from him, and Killian suddenly felt exhausted.

"I know this hurts, Emma. I do. But please, don't push me away right now. I don't think my heart could take it if you did."

Emma rolled her head back around to face him as tears continued to stream down over her cheeks. "I wanted to have children with you," she told him. "I wanted your children, Killian."

"I know," he assured her, as his thumb rubbed soft circles into her cheek bone. "I wanted that too. But this doesn't mean that we can't have children, Emma. Whale said there's a chance that we could. So if you wanted to take that risk, I'd support your decision. And if you didn't… I'd support that too. There are other unconventional ways of having children, Sweetheart. We could look into surrogacy, if you wanted to? Or adoption. Thousands of kids in this country need a good home. You know that better than anyone else. We could be the people to offer a loving home to a couple of kids that really needed one. We have all the time in the world to work this out, Emma. I just need you to get better first, okay?"

He pulled back a little to make sure her eyes would meet his, and when they did, Killian gently learned forward to press their lips together. "I love you," he told her, reaching out to brush away the damp trails her tears had left behind. "I love you so much, Emma. The thought of losing you absolutely terrified me. I don't know what I'd do without you. I don't know who I am without you anymore."

"I'm sorry," she cried, because she really didn't know what else to say in that moment. "I'm so sorry, Killian."

"Hey, it's okay," he soothed, as he pulled the chair as close to the bed as he could, and then dropped his head down to rest beside her own on the pillow. "It's okay, Sweetheart. I love you. I love you so much, Emma."

When the awkward position had his neck twinging in pain, he pushed the chair back and pulled himself up to sit beside Emma, gathering her into his arms as carefully as he could, as she fisted her free hand in his shirt. Her grip was verging on painful, given that she'd managed to snag a few of his chest hairs along with the fabric, but Killian didn't care. Having her in his arms was all he'd wanted for the last three weeks, so he'd make it work for the two of them.

As Emma's tears dried to the occasional hiccupping sob and sniffle, Killian continued to whisper words of love to her, while his fingers glided gently through her hair.

He wasn't sure when she fell asleep, but even when he felt her burrow her way a little deeper into his arms, he continued whispering those words of love, until sleep finally claimed him too.

* * *

Killian woke at the sound of a sharp rap on the door to Emma's room. He didn't have time to call out to ask who was there before it was pushed open, and Nurse Janet made her entrance.

"Sorry, Killian. Doctor Smith just wants us to get Emma's pelvis x-rayed once more, before he comes and takes a look at her. I promise I'll have her back with you as soon as possible."

"It's fine," he mumbled, as he scrubbed a rough hand over his face to try and wake himself up. "Can I uh… let me wake her and tell her what's going on?" he asked. Now that Emma seemed to be more alert, the last thing he wanted to do was have her waking scared, alone and confused.

"Of course." Janet stood back to give him some space, and then turned to speak with someone behind her, waiting in the corridor. It wasn't much, but it was the best she could offer, given the situation.

"Emma," Killian called out softly, as he dropped to a crouch beside the bed. "Emma, Love. Can you wake up for me?"

It took him a moment of softly calling out her name, as he ran his fingers gently through her hair, before she started stirring. But when she did, it wasn't long until those lashes were fluttering open once more, to reveal her beautiful green eyes again.

"The doctors just need some x-rays from you, Love. Janet's gonna take you down there now and get them done before Doctor Smith comes and looks at your pelvis, okay?"

Emma still looked a little drowsy, but she nodded her head to show that she'd heard what Killian was saying.

He offered her a small smile before bending forward to brush a kiss over her forehead. Janet seemed to take that as her cue to move, as she ushered some people into the room, and began the usual dance of unhooking and relocating all of the wires that were attached to Emma's body. But just as the team unlocked the brake on the bed and gave it a firm tug, Emma's hand shot out to latch onto Killian's arm.

"You'll be here when I get back, right?" she asked.

"Of course," he assured her. But Emma still seemed reluctant to let go of the grip she had on his shirtsleeve.

"Killian can accompany us down to the x-ray department, if you'd like," Janet suggested, lifting her head over Emma's own to meet the eyes of her worried boyfriend. "He won't be able to join you while we're getting them done, but he can wait outside and walk back up with us."

"I can definitely do that." Killian loosened Emma's grip on his sleeve to weave their fingers together, before turning around to follow in the direction that Janet was heading. "You know, I don't think I've been to this part of the hospital yet," he said, making small talk in an attempt to relax Emma a little more.

"It's not a very big hospital," Janet chuckled. "I'm sure you'll have seen it all by the time we get back to Emma's room."

"If I've missed a decent coffee shop, please point it out to me. I'm starting to feel my stomach lining rotting away with the stuff your café serves."

Emma chuckled a little even though it pulled painfully on the many stitches in her body. After everything she'd heard earlier that day, the playful banter between her boyfriend and her nurse seemed like a much needed aspect of normalcy in her life.

But all too soon the people around her began to slow down, and Emma's worries returned once more.

"Hey, it's okay," Killian assured her, already sensing where her mind had gone. "You've had plenty of these since you've been here. And I'm gonna be right in that chair, okay?" He pointed to the one sat against the wall at the end of the corridor, and Emma nodded her head in understanding. "I love you, Emma Swan." Killian leaned in to brush the lightest of kisses over her lips, and Emma responded with a much firmer press of her own.

"I love you too," she whispered back, finally let go of the grip she had on his hand, as the team around her gave the bed a firm push through the double doors.

Killian watched her go until they swung shut once more, before he stuffed his hands into his pockets and ambled over to the seat he'd pointed out to her.

* * *

While the nurses and technicians were busy running their tests, Killian pulled out his phone to fiddle with it. Ruby had messaged to ask him to let them know when they could come back and see Emma again, and he felt slightly guilty for thumbing away from their chat without sending a response back. But the truth was, Killian didn't know when Emma would want to see her friends again. It was painfully obvious that they still had things they needed to work through together, before they even thought about facing the people who had come to mean so much to them both. And the last thing he wanted to do was give her friends false hope.

His mother had also messaged while he'd been with Emma and Whale. While she didn't mention anything outright, her simple, _I love you both,_ was more than enough to tell Killian just how much his girlfriend had come to mean to her, while she'd been in the country. After firing off a reply thanking her, he thumbed over to Robin's details and opened their message chain.

Killian had promised to keep his best friend updated about Emma's condition, and now that she was awake and talking, he wanted to share his news. But he also knew that if he placed a phone call at that moment, his friend would be able to tell that there was something wrong. That there was something that Killian had been keeping from him. So instead, he tapped out a simple message to explain that Emma was awake, and he was still with her, before he turned his phone off and slipped it back into his pocket.

After that, all he could do was wait.

* * *

"Killian?"

He hadn't realized that he'd fallen back to sleep until Janet's voice startled him awake, as she made her way back out into the corridor, tugging on the end of Emma's bed.

"Sorry," he replied sheepishly, before standing up and stretching out his muscles. "I feel like I've aged a decade this last month."

"You're not the only one," she assured him, with a brief squeeze to his arm. When Emma's bed was fully through the doors once more, she declared a little louder, "She's a bit sore, and very tired. But you're still with us, aren't you Emma?"

"Killian?" she mumbled sleepily. The syllables were blurring together with her exhaustion, making his name sound unlike anything he'd ever heard before.

"I'm right here, Sweetheart. Just as I promised I would be."

"Hurts, Killian," she whispered. And what was left of his tattered heart shattered.

"I know, Love. I know. Just hang on for a moment longer. I'm sure once we get you back to your room, Doctor Whale will give you something to take the pain away."

He wrapped his fingers tightly around her hand and lifted it to his lips, to brush the softest of kisses over it. Emma was too weak to do anything more than flex her fingers a little inside of his grip, just to show him how she felt.

The walk back to her room was done in tense silence. While Janet spoke with Whale about Emma's pain, and handed over her most recent x-ray films, the team she'd been working with quickly moved Emma back to her usual position, and began reconnecting all of her lines and monitors. Killian kept a tight hold on Emma's hand as they did, even though he knew that he was in their way. He didn't want to let her go while she was in so much pain, and he knew that she didn't want him to either.

"Emma?" Janet called out softly, as she stepped back into the room. "Doctor Whale's just reviewing your x-rays with the specialist. They'll both be in to see you as soon as they're done."

"Can you not help her with the pain first?" Killian begged, as he glanced down to the woman who held his heart.

"The medication should kick in again soon," she assured him, checking over the line that was connected to the IV in Emma's arm. "She was jostled a little during the x-ray process, unfortunately. But it will pass."

Killian didn't look terribly convinced, but he took his usual position beside Emma's bed once more, to wait for the doctors to return.

"I'm sorry," Emma whispered softly, drawing her boyfriend's attention away from where he'd been staring down at her hand in his, and up to her face. "I'm sorry for everything."

"You have nothing to be sorry for."

"I shouldn't have gone," she mumbled. "I… I should have known. I should have taken better care of her. I…"

"No!" Killian cut her off forcefully. "Don't you dare blame yourself for what happened, Emma. This isn't your fault. The only person to blame is the one who did this to you."

"I don't remember," she sobbed, as she turned her head to face him fully. "I keep trying, but I can't remember anything. The last thing I remember is talking to you. And I don't even think that's the same day."

"It's okay," he soothed, as he reached out to run his hand softly over the line of her jaw. "It's okay, Emma. We'll find him eventually. I don't care how long it takes, we'll find him. I won't ever stop looking, no matter how little you remember."

Emma moved into his touch, soaking up as much of it as she could get. It was a far more effective painkiller than the drugs that were slowly working their way through her system and easing her discomfort once more.

"The.. the baby. She was a girl?"

"I don't know," Killian whispered back quietly, as he blinked away the image of a beautiful blonde haired and blue-eyed child. "In my mind, she was."

"Can we uh… where will bury her?"

"My um… my mam suggested having her cremated. She said we shouldn't bury her somewhere that doesn't have meaning to us both."

Emma nodded her agreement as a single tear rolled free from the corner of her right eye, and down over her cheek.

"I've um… I've been looking at places that deal with babies that small for us," Killian told her. "And there are some that… there are some places that can take a small portion of the ashes, and turn them into glass keepsakes. If it's okay with you, I'd like to do that. I like the idea of keeping a small part of her close to me at all times."

Emma nodded her agreement because she couldn't find the words to give to him right then. Killian had already thought of so much while she'd been unconscious, and if what Janet had said was to be believed, he'd managed to do it all from beside her bed.

"I love you," she whispered, just before the medication swept her back under once more.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading and Happy New Year.**


	44. Chapter 44

**Sorry for the delay posting this one. I had some technical issues that left me without my laptop for a little over a week, and needing to rewrite this chapter.**

 **WARNING - This chapter does deal with the loss of a child, and the emotional fallout of that. If this is something that you're not comfortable reading but you still wish to read the chapter, I've marked where the section begins and ends with this CSCSCSCSCS There's only 1 in this chapter. If you wish to skip over this update completely I would fully understand that. Please make your choices based on what is best for you personally.**

* * *

"There you go. I hope you enjoy them. This is one of my favorites." Belle tapped the cover of the book on top of the small pile on the desk before she pushed them over to where an eager young boy was stood, with his mother just behind him.

"Thanks, Belle. I'm sure we will. Have a great week."

"You too. I'll see you guys soon," she promised, as the young mother grabbed her son's hand and headed for the set of double doors to her left.

Belle turned her attention back to the returns she had been logging before her favorite customers had come to visit but only made it through two more of the books when her phone started to vibrate on the desk. Normally, she would send the caller to voicemail and get back to them on her break. But when she saw Ruby's name flash across her screen, she reached for the device instantly.

"Hey, Rob? Will you be okay on your own if I take this? It's about my friend who's in the hospital."

"Sure," Rob agreed. Belle had been devastated the day she'd gotten the news about her friend, so none of them ever protested when she slipped away to take calls giving her updates about Emma's condition. After all, they knew that if they were ever unlucky enough to be in her position, Belle wouldn't hesitate to do all she could to help them.

As soon as she had the door to the small breakroom closed behind her, Belle swiped to answer the call and lifted the device to her ear.

"Ruby? Is everything okay? Is Emma…"

"She's awake," Ruby cut in. "She's finally awake, Belle."

"Oh thank God." Belle slid down into a seat and allowed all of the tension she'd been carrying for almost a month to drain out of her system. Those three small words had never sounded so good before. "How um… how is she?"

"Confused. And tired. But Victor says that's to be expected. I'm just… God, Belle. I'm so glad she's awake and talking again. I didn't…" Ruby cut herself off suddenly and Belle waited patiently for her friend to finish her train of thought. "A part of me wasn't sure I'd ever hear her speaking again."

"I know. I um… I had nightmares about the same thing," she confessed. "This is it now, right? We don't have to worry about any more complications or anything? Emma can just focus on her recovery?"

"She'll likely need more surgery, but it shouldn't be near any major organs. So, that's something."

Belle relaxed a little further at that confirmation. Her friend wasn't completely out of danger yet, but she had hope that Emma was through the worst of things. "Is uh… is there anything I can do to help at all? Anything I could send that she needs?"

"Maybe a card or something, just to let her know that you're thinking of her? The Boston Police Department still has her phone for evidence, but I don't think Emma has the ability to make or receive calls right now."

Belle was already nodding her understanding, even though she knew her friend couldn't see it. "Can I um… I have Friday off. Do you think she'd be up for visitors?" She didn't want to intrude on the time Emma's friends were spending with her. Especially given how close everyone had come to losing her. But Belle knew she'd never truly be able to stop worrying about Emma until she'd had a chance to see her friend awake and talking for herself.

"Can I get back to you on that one?" Ruby asked, with what was clearly a forced chuckle. "They're talking about moving her to Boston soon, so she can be closer to all of the resources they have in the city. I don't want you to make the journey down here if Emma's gonna be making a journey up to you, on the same day."

"Of course. That makes sense." Belle hadn't even thought about the idea of Emma being transferred closer to her home. It would make things more difficult for her friends, of that she was certain. But Belle was hopeful that she and Regina would be able to make up for that. They would be able to visit Emma regularly when she was in their city. "Gimme a call when you know more, and until then, will you give her a hug from me?"

"Of course. Take care of yourself, Belle."

"You too."

Belle disconnected the call the moment she'd finished speaking but took a few additional minutes just to sit in silence and absorb all of the news that she'd received. When she finally left the breakroom fifteen minutes after she'd entered it, her smile was wider and far more natural that it had been over the previous month.

Rob wasn't the only one in the building who noticed it.

* * *

Emma hadn't been awake for long when Doctor Whale swept into her room once more, with an unfamiliar face following close behind him. While Whale took a seat on the table opposite the end of her bed, the other guy made his way over to her side with a warm smile on his face, and a large folder tucked under his arm.

"Good Evening, Emma. I'm Doctor Smith and I'm an orthopedic surgeon based in Boston. I was part of the team that worked on stabilizing the breaks in your pelvis," he explained.

"Hi," she whispered back. But she didn't say anything else, because the guy was certainly giving off a vibe that said he wasn't the type you made small talk with. And Emma was in too much pain to bother trying.

"I just wanted to take some time to explain to you about the damage you suffered there, and what we've done to address the issue. Then we can talk about how your recovery will progress, and I can answer any questions that you might have for me."

Emma nodded her understanding but tightened her grip ever-so-slightly on Killian's fingers. She wasn't sure she could bear to hear any more bad news that day. She was only just managing to hold herself together as it was.

Smith fiddled with the large file he'd bought in with him before he pulled out an x-ray film and held it up to the light for her to see. "This was the first x-ray taken of the break in your pelvis," he explained. "The one you can see here was caused by the impact of the bullet. But if you look very closely, you can see another hairline crack _here_ , which was originally missed by the surgical team. It's very easily done. Especially with the urgency needed to stabilize you, given the other injuries you'd sustained during the attack. This one was likely caused by the fall you took, and wouldn't have rung any alarm bells at the time, as the bone looked to be intact."

Emma nodded to show that she'd heard what was being said, but the information wasn't really sinking in. Her mind was still foggy around the edges, tinged with exhaustion and pain – both physical and emotional. Which made it incredibly difficult to focus on what Doctor Smith was saying, and why it was so important.

"This image was taken just before we fitted your external fixator," Smith continued, as he pulled out another film. "Pelvic breaks and fractures are incredibly unstable, and as you can see here, that hairline crack became a break, which was what triggered your internal bleeding. Doctor Whale managed to stop the bleed for you and then sent us these images so that we could come down and fix the damage for you. We call this type of injury an unstable break, as it left the ends either side of the bone displaced. In order to fix that, we needed to fit the external fixator."

He paused for a moment to whip out a third x-ray image, which she assumed had been taken earlier that day. Emma and Killian both cringed a little at the presence of the foreign objects inside of her body, but they could also see the difference in the bone alignment between the two films Smith had already shown to them.

"This is today's," he pointed out unnecessarily. "As you can see, the bone is already beginning to heal, but it's a very slow process I'm afraid. We're hoping to have the fixator off in around two to three months' time, but we won't be able to say for sure until then. It's something we'll judge based on how you're healing, rather than a fixed period of time." He slid the last image back into the file and then sat the whole thing down on the end of Emma's bed.

"Now, normally we'd encourage our patients to get up and move about while they're recovering, as it would speed the process along and prevent muscle atrophy. And while the fixator looks restrictive, you can actually walk with it on. However, given the extent of your injuries, and the fact that you're struggling to feel sensation around the area, we're not going to do that just yet. Without a scan of the muscle I can't be sure, but I'd be willing to bet that atrophy is already setting in, so we're gonna look at transferring you over to Boston as soon as we can, to start on your physical therapy. A therapist will be able to help you gradually work those muscles that are a little damaged and haven't been used for the last month or so, until you're strong enough to get out of bed and move around again. The last thing we need right now is to push you too far, as that will just set your recovery back further. How does that sound to you?"

Emma's attention moved over to Whale at the end of her bed, before she turned to face her boyfriend, and then back towards Doctor Smith. So much had once again been said in such a short space of time, and she wasn't really sure where to begin processing it all, let alone putting into words how she felt about what had been said.

"It's okay," Killian assured her, as he lifted her hand to his lips. He seemed to know that she needed some help, even without her asking for it. And she loved that about him. "I've already made a few inquiries for us. There are some lovely homes in Boston, close to the hospital, that we could rent while you're there. All I need to do is place a few calls when the time comes."

"But your job," she protested, because Emma hated the thought of keeping him away from his work and his fans for so long. While she wouldn't pretend to know everything about his employment contract, she knew that he could get into a lot of trouble for not finishing his time with the show. And she certainly understood how quickly the fans could turn against him if they thought he'd jumped ship.

"It can wait. The network knows what's happened, Emma. They know that you come first. I can go back next season when we start filming again, and you're ready to come with me. All that matters right now is getting you better. And that means getting you out of this bed."

Emma wasn't really sure what to say to that. She knew that she didn't deserve to have someone like Killian in her life. Someone who was willing to give up so much to be with her, while she was still healing. But God help her, she knew she could never let him go. Being with Killian made her feel loved and cherished in a way she'd never experienced before. She was too addicted to the comfort his embrace brought to her, and the thrill his kisses sent through her body, to send him away.

"When can we make the move?" Killian asked, as he lifted his head to direct his question back to the two doctors in the room. "You know I'm all for getting Emma out of this town as soon as I can."

"I would say within the week," Smith told them both. "We just need to make sure that accommodations are put into place for Emma, and then we can look at going ahead with the transfer."

"Make sure she gets the best possible care," her boyfriend declared. "I don't care what it costs. What her insurance won't cover, I will."

Smith nodded his agreement even as Emma opened her mouth to protest. She didn't need anything fancy. All she needed was Killian by her side. As long as he was there, she knew she could battle her way through whatever else was thrown her way.

"I'll make the calls now and let you get some more rest, Miss. Swan. I'll be back tomorrow to check on you," Smith said, before leaving the room with Whale hot on his heels.

Emma took a moment just to appreciate the silence once more before she turned back to face her boyfriend. But when she opened her mouth to speak, he beat her to it.

"Don't! I know what you're going to say, Emma, and I don't care. You _will_ have the best possible care while you're recovering, and that's the end of this debate."

"Okay," she whispered softly, as she watched that haunted look pass through his eyes once more. It was a look that told her this was just as much for his peace of mind as it was about her recovery. Killian needed to know that he was doing all he could to help her, and this was his way of achieving that.

* * *

When Killian woke later that evening it was with a start. His wide eyes bounced around the room as he tried to work out what it was that had pulled him from his sleep. He had made it over to the cot against the wall that night when Emma had fallen back under the pull of the medication. But as his eyes landed on his girlfriend's face, he realized that might have been a mistake.

Emma whimpered again in her sleep, her face screwing up a little at whatever she was seeing in her dreams, and he pushed himself off the cot.

"Hey," Killian whispered softly, as he dropped into the chair beside her bed and reached up to run a soothing hand over her hair. Emma flinched at the contact and he hesitated for a moment, before continuing his caresses. "Hey, it's okay, Sweetheart. I'm right here. You're safe, Emma. You're safe."

Emma's heart rate was picking up, the spikes on the display jumping higher and faster with it, and Killian started to panic. The last thing they needed was for her nightmare to give her a heart attack. And with everything they'd both already been through, he wasn't willing to rule out that possibility.

"Emma," Killian called a little louder, as he shook her shoulders gently. "Emma, wake up for me, Love."

When she finally did it was with a gasp of surprise as her eyes struggled to focus in the darkness of the room. She turned her head to meet his gaze, and Killian found himself relaxing back into his seat once more as the lines on her monitor settled back into a steady rhythm.

"You were having a nightmare," he explained, while the door to the room cracked open and spilled in dim light. Janet met his eyes briefly and he gave her a soft reassuring smile before he turned his attention back to his girlfriend. "You're safe now, Sweetheart. Nobody's _ever_ gonna hurt you again."

Emma said nothing but she did turn her head into his hand, to press a kiss to his palm.

"Do you um… do you remember what you were dreaming about?" he asked carefully.

Emma closed her eyes for a brief moment as she tried to recall the details, and then shook her head sadly when she couldn't. "I just… I was scared. That's all I remember. I was so scared, Killian."

"It's okay," he soothed, as he leaned in to press his lips to hers. "It's okay, my love. All that matters now is that you're safe. I love you, Emma."

"I love you too," she said, reaching up to cover his hand with hers.

Emma gave his fingers a gentle squeeze as he lowered their hands back to rest against the bed before he stood up to stretch out his body. The cot the hospital had given him was one of the most uncomfortable things he'd ever slept on, and all of the awkward positions he'd been sleeping at were doing one hell of a number on his back.

But there was a more pressing discomfort making itself known, now that he was awake.

"I just need to use the bathroom. Will you be okay? Do you want me to call Janet to come in and sit with you?"

"I'm fine," she assured him, although they both knew that it was a lie. But Killian was gracious enough not to push the issue. (However, that didn't stop him from asking the nurse on the station just outside of Emma's room if she'd mind checking on his girlfriend, while he was using the facilities.)

"Is it okay to come in, Dear?" the older woman asked, poking her head around the doorjamb. "Your monitors registered a slight spike earlier, and I just wanted to check the readings so that Doctor Whale doesn't yell at us in the morning."

"Sure," Emma chuckled, as she tried to pull herself a little further up the bed. She wasn't much in the mood for sleeping after her nightmare. The older nurse, whose name she didn't know, was soon by her side, helping to arrange the pillows and blankets to make her comfortable again before she reached for the chart at the end of the bed.

"I uh… I had a nightmare," Emma said suddenly, as she watched the woman make her way over to the computer by Killian's chair, where she began pushing some buttons. "I'm guessing that's what caused… _that_."

"It looks like you're right," the nurse agreed. Apart from that one small blip, Emma's readings had been steady and normal for a few days now. It had been incredibly reassuring to everyone involved in her care. "And that's nothing to be ashamed of, Dear. We all get them, and not all of us have been through everything that you have."

"Thanks."

"Would um… would you like me to call anyone for you tomorrow? Maybe Doctor Hopper? He could help you work through your dreams if you're ready to talk about them."

Emma appreciated the offer that was being made, but she couldn't imagine opening up to someone she knew as well as Archie. Not that she could remember anything that would be worth talking about. "Thanks for the offer, but I uh… I still don't remember anything. I keep trying but… I don't even remember how much time I'm missing," she confessed.

The older nurse propped her hip against the side of Emma's bed as she offered the young woman a tight smile. "It'll come back when you're ready," she assured her. "And not just physically, but when you're emotionally ready to confront it all. You've been through a lot these last few weeks, Emma. Much more than most people will _ever_ face in their lifetime. Don't push yourself too hard, Dear."

"Thanks."

For a moment the room was silent, but it wasn't the uncomfortable kind that usually came from being in an enclosed space with a stranger. Emma appreciated that everyone was being gentle with her because she wasn't sure she could handle anything else right then. But she also appreciated that everyone she'd spoken to was being honest with her. She didn't want things to be sugarcoated. That would only drag out the pain that had been eating a hole through her heart since she'd woken up.

"Where's that fiancé of yours?" the nurse asked suddenly, as she cast a look around the room, almost like she thought he would be hiding behind a curtain.

"Who, Killian? He's um… he's just using the bathroom," Emma explained. "He'll be back soon."

"Of course he will. We had to practically force him out of here under doctor's orders when you had your last surgery. He really hates the idea of leaving you alone. You um… you have a good one there."

"Yeah, I do." Emma had always known that her relationship with Killian was better than the one she'd had with Neal. It was healthier. But seeing how dedicated he was to her, and to their relationship, proved beyond any shadow of a doubt that she'd been right to accept his proposal.

She only wished that she could remember the event itself.

"I'll let you get some more rest," the nurse said, startling Emma out of her thoughts. "You can reach your call button if you need one of us, right?"

Emma lifted the small device that rested against her left thigh to show the concerned nurse, who gave her another gentle smile before she headed out of the room, leaving the sheriff alone with her thoughts for the first time since she'd woken.

* * *

"Emma? Is everything okay, Sweetheart?"

She startled at the sound of her name being called and turned her head to find a very worried looking Killian once again sat in the seat beside her bed. He had her hand held tightly between both of his, and he was leaning forward with his concern.

She couldn't remember him coming back into the room.

Emma would add that small moment to the long list of things she couldn't remember right then.

"I'm fine," she reassured him. "I was just thinking. There's… there's so much I can't remember, Killian. I hate it. I hate having this huge gap in my mind. I don't… I don't remember what the last day I _actually_ remember is. I don't want people to have to repeat things to me that they've said before. Or to tiptoe around me because they don't want to bring up something that they think I might have forgotten. And I… I can't remember your proposal," she finally whispered, as the tears began to build in the corners of her eyes once again.

Emma hated crying, and she'd done more of it in the last two days than she had in the last two decades of her life.

"If there's anything I don't wanna forget, Killian, it's our relationship. And I can't remember the biggest moment of it so far. I feel like such a shitty partner right now."

"Hey, shush," he soothed, as he leaned forward to gather her into his arms as best he could. "It's okay, Emma. You are _not_ a shitty partner. You… you haven't forgotten my proposal."

"Yes. Yes, I have."

Killian pulled back to put some space between the two of them so that Emma could read the truth and apology behind his words. "You didn't forget it, Emma, because I haven't proposed yet. I will. One day soon. When you're ready for it. But I haven't done it yet. I just… I told the nurses here that I was your fiancé because they wouldn't let me see you. I'm sorry, Love. I just _had_ to see you. And then when my mam got here she said the same thing because she was worried they wouldn't tell her where I was. I'm sorry, Sweetheart. I'm so sorry we upset you."

Emma reached up to run her hand through the longer hairs on top of his head, before sliding it down to cup his cheek. "It's okay," she assured him. "I'd have done the same thing." She paused for a moment as his words played on a loop in her mind, before she added, "For what it's worth, when you ask I'll say yes. It's been rather nice being fake engaged to you for the last two days."

"If we're being really technical, it's been almost a month," Killian chuckled, pressing a kiss to the inside of her wrist.

"Huh. Well… if we've been fake engaged for _that_ long, you probably shouldn't keep me waiting too long for the real deal." Emma's eyes were bright with her humor for the first time since she'd woken, and it was the most beautiful thing Killian had ever seen.

"Marry me?"

Emma giggled a little at his words, but she stopped the moment she caught the look in his eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Yes." Killian paused for a second to try and gather his thoughts, but he wasn't really sure where to begin putting them into words. "I know this isn't romantic, and it's not the right time or the right place. But… maybe that makes it right for us, Emma? I mean, we just went through something that most people can't even begin to understand. And it's only made me love you more. It's made me want to _be_ with you more. I don't wanna waste the time we have left together, Emma. I don't want to have any regrets when it comes to our relationship. So yeah, I'm serious. I want you to marry me, Emma Swan."

Emma was silent for a moment as she allowed Killian's words to fill her mind. A part of her was busy screaming that it was too fast, and that if they rushed into things there was a good chance they could both grow to resent that decision. But a much larger part was busy reminding herself that she'd almost lost him. She had come so close to never seeing those beautiful, expressive eyes of his again. To never feel the tenderness in his touch, or hearing the way his voice caressed his words, as he told her that he loved her.

Emma never wanted to think about a future where that could possibly become her reality. And as soon as she realized that, she knew that she had her answer.

"Okay," she whispered softly. "When I'm out of this bed and moving around a little more freely, I'll marry you, Killian Jones."

"Seriously?" he asked, pulling back a little in surprise. "I uh… I was convinced that you were gonna say no there."

"Is that why you asked?"

"Oh, God no Emma. I want this. I want _you._ I just… I just thought you'd think I was a bit of an idiot for suggesting it. Especially given everything we're going through right now. But I want this, Emma. I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

He leaned in to brush his lips softly over hers, lingering when her hand came up to stroke gently over the line of his jaw before he pulled back to rest his head next to hers on the pillow.

"I'll um… we can look at rings tomorrow if you'd like? You can pick out something you love and I'll have it made for you."

"I don't need a ring, Killian. I just… I just need you."

Killian wanted to protest that she deserved a beautiful engagement ring. Especially as Neal hadn't bothered to buy her one when he'd proposed. But he also didn't want their first conversation after their engagement to be an argument. So he didn't bother pushing the issue too much.

"In that case, I'll buy you one when you're out of here, and then propose to you properly."

"How about you just buy me a wedding band instead, and when I'm back on my feet, we'll go somewhere and get married? Just the two of us. Somewhere we can be alone together for a while. That's all I want. That's all I need, Killian."

"That sounds perfect to me," he agreed softly. He lifted her hand to his lips and placed a firm kiss in the exact spot where sometime soon, Emma's wedding band would end up resting.

* * *

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Killian was sitting awkwardly on the edge of Emma's bed, with an arm wrapped around her shoulders, as he ran gentle fingers through her hair. He was pretty sure that his fiancée was asleep, but he didn't want to leave her. Not after her earlier nightmare.

So when Emma suddenly spoke, he startled a little.

"I think we should cremate her."

Killian's fingers stopped moving for a moment as he allowed her words to sink in before he started his ministrations up again.

"Your mom's right. We shouldn't bury her somewhere that doesn't have meaning to us. And after all of this… I don't wanna bury her here. She shouldn't be buried in the town that killed her. And I don't have anywhere else. Nowhere else has ever been a home to me."

Emma paused for a moment to turn and face him, and Killian could see the damp trails over her cheeks. "He took that from me. He took my baby, my ability to have children, the last four weeks of my life… and he took my home, Killian. He took it all from me. And it hurts so much."

"I'm sorry, Sweetheart."

Emma nodded her head to show that she'd heard him, but she didn't say anything else. She didn't want to lie and tell him that it was all okay, because the truth was that it was far from okay. _She_ was far from okay. Storybrooke was the only place she'd ever thought of as home, and now that had been taken from her. She didn't doubt that she'd eventually find a new home, with Killian by her side. But she hated that her memories of the town would forever be tainted by what had happened to her in it. And by what she'd lost in it.

"I think we should have her cremated, and then we can scatter her ashes in a place that has special meaning to us both. We could maybe do that keepsake thing you suggested too?"

"I'll start making all of the arrangements," Killian promised, as he leaned down to brush his lips over her forehead. "Have you um… have you thought about what you want to tell everyone?"

"No. A part of me doesn't want to tell them. I don't want the looks and the pity that will come with it." She raised her head again to meet his eyes, as she clarified, "I know they'll all mean well. I really do. I just… I need time to process this first. My head's a mess right now, Killian. And I can't… I don't think I can cope with trying to deal with everything while everyone's asking how I'm doing, and offering their condolences. I can't pretend I'm okay when they all know I'm not. But I don't want to hide her either. I'm not ashamed of her. She doesn't deserve to be hidden away and forgotten."

"She won't be. We won't forget her, Emma. When you're back on your feet and feeling better we can try and come up with a way to honor her memory. Something that will let us give her the kind of legacy that she deserves to have. Until then, we can keep it between us. But you um… you should know that I think Mary-Margaret knows. I didn't tell her. I just um… I guess I reacted badly to something she said a few weeks back, when I was playing with Leo. And she worked it out from that. But she hasn't said anything directly to me."

"She wouldn't. She's a good friend. And an even better person."

"Yeah. She is."

Killian leaned down again to brush another kiss over Emma's hair as he tucked her into his side and settled back against the bed as comfortably as he possibly could. He'd hold her all night if it helped Emma to sleep better.

But she surprised him once more when she spoke again, and this time, the humor was back in her tone as she asked, "So, you've been playing with Baby Leo? Did anyone happen to get that on film?"

"I'm pretty sure his mother did," Killian chuckled.

"Good. The world deserves to see that. You know – for science."

Killian's sharp bark of laughter was loud in the silence of the hospital, but beautiful music to Emma's ears.

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 **Thanks for reading and reviewing.**

 **Special thanks to Luna, Alexa, Kate, Jillian and the Guest reviewers. Sorry I can't reply to you in person.**


	45. Chapter 45

When Ruby pushed her way into Emma's room the following morning, she froze in the doorway as she took in the sight before her.

Killian had pushed his cot as close to Emma's bed as it could go, and the two were curled up together fast asleep. The actor had one of his arms wrapped around Emma's waist while his other curled above her head on the pillow, making her look completely wrapped in his embrace even though she could barely move from the position the nurses had placed her into. Emma's face was turned into his neck, and although the position looked incredibly uncomfortable for both of them, Ruby had never seen two people look so in love before.

"He's gonna take good care of her, isn't he?" Mary-Margaret asked quietly, as she stepped around her friend to see what had caused her to freeze in her tracks.

"He always does," Ruby assured her.

It was rather bitter-sweet for her to see the two of them the way they were. With every day that Emma's condition improved, it became a day closer to her best friend leaving Storybrooke for good. And while nobody in town would ever blame Emma for that choice, Ruby wasn't sure she was ready to say goodbye to her friend yet.

She wasn't sure she would _ever_ be ready for that moment.

"At least Boston isn't too far for us to go and visit," Mary-Margaret offered, because her mind had gone to the same place that Ruby's had.

"No. But Vancouver is."

For a moment, the two women said nothing as they stood and watched the lovers in the room sleep peacefully. They needed time to come to terms with Emma's leaving, and it was time they were both rapidly running out of.

"Let's go and get some coffee," Mary-Margaret eventually declared, as she reached for Ruby's hand to tug her out of the room. "We can come back up when they're awake."

"Yeah," Ruby reluctantly agreed, before turning away from the sweet scene in front of her to follow the other woman through the corridors and back downstairs.

* * *

When Killian woke that morning it was from the best sleep he'd had since getting Ruby's call. While the cot still wasn't terribly comfortable, and sleeping over the gap between the two beds had made it worse, having Emma back in his arms once more had been more than worth the ache in his muscles.

He took a moment just to watch as her chest rose and fell with every breath she took, reassuring himself that she was alive and recovering well before he slid off the bed and headed for the small bathroom to wash up and change into some clean clothes. Killian knew that he'd probably have to leave Emma sometime that afternoon so that he could make use of the Nolans' shower again. But he took comfort in the knowledge that he knew her room would be full of their friends while he was gone. He was actually a little surprised that they weren't already in the room that morning when he woke.

After making use of all of the facilities he took a moment just to tidy up from the night before, pushing the cot back against the wall and moving the chairs around the bed, ready for the inevitable influx of guests that would be visiting Emma when she woke. But when he reached for his phone to check his messages, Killian's stomach lurched.

There was one from Ruby that had been sent a few hours before, letting him know that she and Mary-Margaret were in the café. But it was the one that he'd received after Ruby's that Killian was most concerned by. David's simple message had read, **Meet us in the coffee shop when you wake up,** and Killian knew that whatever he had to say wouldn't be good news.

He didn't much like the idea of leaving Emma alone, but if David had news about her case he knew that her friends would want to hear it too. So after a moment of indecision, he leaned down to brush his lips over her forehead and whispered a few words of love before slipping quietly from the room.

The nurse behind the desk was one that he recognized but didn't know by name. She offered him a small smile as he passed and a soft assurance that she'd check on Emma regularly, which helped Killian to push through the double doors and out of the ward.

He wasn't surprised to find the others gathered around a few small tables at the back of the café, talking amongst themselves as they sipped at the crappy coffee on offer. The addition of Detective Roberts wasn't overly surprising either, given the message that David had sent to him. But that didn't mean that Killian was happy to see her again.

"What's going on?" he asked, as soon as he caught David's eye.

"How's Emma doing?" the other man asked instead.

"As well as can be expected," Killian replied carefully. "She's got a long road to recovery ahead of her. But at the moment, she's just trying to take it all in and process everything."

David nodded his understanding and then turned his eyes down to the paper cup between his hands. Killian watched as a number of emotions flashed over the man's face while he stared at the murky looking beverage on the table before he finally lifted his head once more.

"Detective Roberts would like to speak with Emma when she wakes today."

"No. Absolutely not," Killian replied firmly, as all eyes around the tables snapped up to his face. "She's been through enough. Unless you have some kind of concrete lead that needs her consultation, she'll be left alone for now."

"I need to know what she knows," Roberts replied diplomatically.

"She doesn't know anything," Killian roared. "She doesn't remember the last time she spoke to _me,_ let alone what happened that night. How does pushing her to talk about something she doesn't know help in this situation, huh?"

"It's possible she might remember something that doesn't seem significant to either you or to her. That's why it's imperative that I speak with her as soon as possible."

"She's going through a lot right now," Killian implored. "Surely this can wait a few days? I'm not asking you to wait forever, just to give her a few days to come to terms with everything. She's suffered more than you will _ever_ understand and she needs time to process all of that. Asking her to try and relive traumatic memories isn't going to help with that."

When nobody said anything in reply, Killian turned his attention to Ruby, hoping that she would be able to help him out. "What does Victor say? Has anyone asked him if Emma's ready for this? Does he think that this is a good idea?"

Again, nobody said anything, and Killian took that as his answer. "Until I hear from Victor that she's ready for this conversation, it's _not_ happening," he declared firmly. "I won't have you set her recovery back for nothing. We've come too far for that to happen now."

Killian didn't bother waiting for anyone else to reply, he simply turned on his heels and headed back up to Emma's ward. He had hoped that he'd make it back before she woke, but when he pushed through the door and into her room he found her mid-conversation with the nurse who had been at the desk when he'd left.

"Hey, Sweetheart. How are you feeling?" he asked, making his way over to her side to brush a kiss to her forehead.

"I woke up and you were gone. But Anne was here."

Emma sounded a little fuzzy around the edges, and Killian flicked a worried look over to Nurse Anne stood by the window.

"She jostled herself a bit when she woke from a nightmare," the nurse explained quietly, pulling him aside so that Emma wouldn't hear their conversation. "I upped her pain medication a little to take the worst of it from her. She'll be okay, though."

"Thank you." He gave the other woman a soft smile of appreciation as she made her way from the room before pulling his chair up close to Emma's bed and reaching for her hand. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you woke, Sweetheart."

"It's 'kay," she mumbled, turning her head to face in his direction, even though her eyes were still closed. "You came back."

"I'll always come back to you, Emma. Never doubt that, my love."

He wasn't sure if Emma had heard his words before the medication pulled her under, but as long as she was comfortable that was all that mattered to him.

Killian watched over her for a moment to make sure that her sleep was peaceful before pulling out his phone to send some emails. With Emma's move to Boston imminent, he wanted to make sure that the two of them would have a place to live when she was eventually discharged. He would do anything and everything he could to make sure that her transition back to a somewhat normal life was as smooth as it could possibly be.

"Honey? Can I come in?"

Killian's head snapped up from his phone to see his mother lingering in the doorway, and he nodded his agreement as he locked the device and slipped it away.

"Is Emma sleeping?"

"Yeah, she uh… she had a nightmare and jarred a few sore spots. But she'll be okay," he explained, as he watched his mother carefully take the seat beside him.

Sinéad reached out for Emma's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze before she carefully placed it down on the bed once more. "I have to go back home soon," she said eventually.

Killian had been expecting this conversation, he just hadn't thought it would come so soon.

"I can come back when Emma's discharged from the hospital to help you guys settle in a little easier. I'm sure she'd appreciate having another woman around for some aspects of her recovery. But until then, I need to go back and sort your father out. I think your brother's getting a little fed up of having him around so much. And… I miss him."

Killian chuckled at the thought of just how much his brother would have seen of Brennan Jones while their mother had been away. He could vaguely remember a time when they were children, and their mam had been sent to Germany for a business trip for four days. If Killian's memory served him well, they ate most of their meals at a local fast-food restaurant while she was gone, and had no set bedtime. The boys had thought it was wonderful, Brennan had found it exhausting, and Sinéad had been pissed, because she'd had to spend the next month getting her kids back into a sleeping routine after that short trip away from home had ruined their previous one.

"Would you like me to take care of the service arrangements for your little angel before I go?" she asked carefully. "Have you managed to speak with Emma yet about what you'd like to do?"

"We uh… we agreed to have her cremated. And we'd like to do one of those memory things with her ashes. But we didn't get much further than that."

Sinéad reached out to squeeze her son's hand tightly. It was her way of showing him that she would be a strong presence at his side – at Emma's side – for as long as they needed someone to lean on. "I'll arrange for it to happen," she promised. "We shouldn't leave your little one alone in the morgue any longer than necessary."

"Thanks, Ma."

Sinéad leaned in to press a kiss to the side of his head, suddenly overwhelmed with emotion. Of both her boys, Killian was the one she'd always worried less about. He had always worked hard and been focused on achieving his goals in life. He wasn't easily led astray as his brother had been, and he rarely suffered from a broken heart. But he was suffering terribly now, and all she wanted to do was take that pain from him. She just didn't know how.

"Emma and I are getting married," he said suddenly, as he leaned forward to take his love's hand into his own. "When she's out of this hospital bed and moving a little more freely, we're gonna go somewhere together and get married."

"Oh no you're not," his mother protested fiercely, pulling Killian's gaze away from Emma's face and over to her own. "There's no way that you two are getting married without having the people _here, now_ by your sides. We love you too. We deserve to see you guys get your happy start in life together, given how hard you've both fought for it."

Killian leaned into his mother's side, dropping his head down onto her shoulder. Since arriving in Storybrooke, Sinéad had shown just how much she cared for a woman she barely knew, many times over. But his mother's love for Emma never failed to fill his heart with a kind of admiration and respect for her that he'd never felt before.

"Thanks, Ma. I promise we'll let you know a time and date when we have one."

"Oh, you'd better, Killian Jones. I'd hate to have to disown my own son. It'll make family gatherings rather awkward, given that your wife would still be invited."

* * *

Killian was more than a little annoyed when Whale was finally consulted on the idea of Emma speaking with the police. Instead of forbidding the conversation, as he had expected, Whale had agreed to give Detective Roberts no more than thirty minutes of Emma's time.

"I can't believe you're siding with them," Killian snapped at the doctor, as he stood from his place beside Emma's bed. The anger coursing through his veins was lighting a fire inside of him, and pacing seemed more preferable to hitting things – or people.

"I know this is difficult for you, Killian, but this is the best thing for everyone. There's a good chance that Emma might know something that could help the investigation, even if she doesn't realize it. It might have come to her in a dream, or maybe it's a snippet of a conversation she thought she'd heard before the attack. I will be here the entire time Detective Roberts is in the room. I won't let her pursue a line of questioning that will bring Emma a great deal of distress, and I will have her removed if it looks like this is going to set Emma's recovery back. But we can't shield her from this forever, Killian. It has to be done eventually. Hopefully, this will bring us one step closer to catching the bastard that did this to her."

"It's okay," a soft voice chimed in. "I'll do it."

"You don't have to do _anything_ you don't want to do right now," Killian told her, softening his voice as he dropped down into the seat beside Emma's bed once more. "You've been through enough, Sweetheart."

"I don't want to cremate my child, but I still have to do that. It doesn't matter when we do this, Killian. It's _never_ gonna get any easier. But if I can help, I want to."

Killian's gaze flicked between the face of the woman he loved and the doctor stood in the room. He wanted so badly to do anything that would protect Emma from more harm, but he knew that deep down she was right. There were still a great many things they needed to do that neither of them wanted to. A great many things that had to be done that would cause each of them pain. And yet, they still had to be done.

"I'll be right here the entire time," he promised, lifting her hand to his lips. "And we can stop this whenever you want to. Just say the word."

"I'll be okay. You can't protect me from everything, Killian."

"I can damn well try."

Emma chuckled a little at his words but fell quiet soon after as the weight of what was about to happen began pressing down on them both. She wasn't looking forward to speaking with the officer waiting in the hall outside. And she knew she didn't have anything to offer her that would be of any help. But Emma also knew what it was like to deal with uncooperative individuals, and she didn't want to be that person for someone else.

Whale seemed to take the silence as his cue to act, as he made his way over to the door and ushered the woman that had been waiting outside into the small room.

"Hello, Emma. My name is Detective Roberts and I work for the Boston Police Department. How are you feeling today?" she asked, as she moved into the space on the other side of the hospital bed.

"Like someone tried to kill me. Three times," Emma sighed. She wasn't much in the mood for small talk from someone pretending to care about her. She just wanted to get the conversation over and done with so that she could go back to resting, preferably with Killian's arms around her once more.

"Sorry. That was a stupid question," Roberts agreed. "How uh… how about we get right to it? Can you tell me what you remember about anything that happened on the day of the twenty-first of September?"

Emma flicked a glance over to Killian and he didn't hesitate to answer her unspoken inquiry. "That was the day it happened. It was almost four weeks ago."

"I uh… I don't know." She screwed her face up with her concentration as she tried desperately to recall the last of her memories. "I remember calling you," she said, turning back to face Killian. "You complained because you were hanging from some sort of harness and it was cutting into certain places."

"You promised to kiss it better for me when I saw you again," he teased, hoping that his easy banter would help Emma to relax a little more. It didn't work though, her face fell at his words as she kept her gaze locked on the man she loved.

"I'm sorry I didn't get to fulfill that promise."

"Don't be. There will be plenty of time to make it up to me," he assured her, leaning in to brush his lips lightly over hers. "All that matters right now is that you get better, Emma. That's all I care about."

Roberts seemed reluctant to interrupt their moment, but Killian knew it wouldn't last. She'd been so keen to speak with Emma that he wasn't expecting her to leave the room that day until she'd finished with her questions, or Whale was forced to kick her out.

"Do you recall when that was?" the detective asked eventually.

Emma turned to Killian once more, unsure of when that conversation had taken place, and he smiled softly as he answered for her. "Two days before. I think. It's uh… it's been a crazy month."

"And do you remember anything after that, Emma?"

Emma's face screwed up with her concentration again as she tried to recall those last few moments in her memories. She could remember calling Killian, but everything after that was blank until she woke in the hospital.

"I uh… I _think_ I remember getting dressed and going to work the next day. Maybe? Or maybe that's the same day? What was I wearing?"

"This is ridiculous," Killian snapped. "Why are you putting her through this? Can't you see that she's already been through enough?"

"We're nearly done for today," Roberts assured him, before she turned her attention to Emma once more. "You wrote down that you were called out to a disturbance by the town line. Do you often investigate those kinds of calls alone?"

"Yes. We're a small town, Detective. Disturbances usually fall into one of two categories. Teenagers trying to cause trouble or animals that have gotten somewhere they're not supposed to be. Nobody's ever been shot here before. I wasn't expecting to be the first."

Roberts scratched a few more notes on her page before she raised her head again and asked, "And there's _nothing_ else that you can remember? About the call? The search? Maybe a part of a conversation that seems out of place to you right now?"

Emma closed her eyes as she tried desperately to recall _something_ … _anything_ that would help the detective, but there was nothing coming to her. And the more she tried to force it, the more it seemed to elude her.

"I think that's enough for today," Killian stated firmly, as he reached out to run his fingers over Emma's creased brow.

"Anything at all, Emma?"

"Enough!" he commanded, as the monitor beside her bed jumped.

Whale pushed away from the wall he'd been leaning against at the sound of the noise and quickly checked over the screen. "I think Mr. Jones is right," he stated calmly. "Emma's had enough for one day. You can pick this up again when something comes back to her. For now… she needs to rest."

Roberts didn't look too happy about being essentially thrown from Emma's room, but she left without complaint. On her way out, she called back over her shoulder, "If you think of anything, don't hesitate to contact me," as Whale followed her out of the door and down the hallway.

Killian waited until they were both out of sight before he turned to Emma, rising from his place beside her bed to sit on the small space next to her left hip.

"Hey, it's okay," he assured her. "It's okay, Sweetheart."

"It's not," she sobbed, as tears began trickling from her eyes and over her cheeks. "I can't remember _anything_ , Killian. How am I supposed to help the police find this man? How can I help them find the person who murdered our child when I can't remember anything?"

"Don't put this on yourself, Emma. It's _not_ your fault that you don't remember what happened. You nearly died in that forest. Nobody expects you to remember who shot you or why. So don't you dare blame yourself for not being able to remember the details. When the time is right, someone will pay for what happened to our little angel. But there will be absolutely no justice for her if you end up suffering trying to get it."

He leaned forward and pulled her awkwardly into his arms to let her sob her way through her frustrations. Killian couldn't even begin to imagine what she must be going through, but if it was anything close to how he'd felt for the last four weeks, he knew that she needed him then more than she ever had before.

"It's okay, Emma. I'm right here," he assured her. "And I always will be."

* * *

Killian was finally pried away from Emma's side at around dinner time. After keeping her friends waiting most of the day to see her, he had agreed to leave with David to make use of the Nolans' shower while Mary-Margaret and Ruby stayed behind to keep his fiancée some company.

As much as Emma was grateful that someone was finally getting him out of the hospital, she kind of wished that he'd stayed until dinner was over. Whale had asked one of the nurses to bring her some soup that evening so they could see how well she would cope with having some kind of food inside her system. And Emma was struggling to make her left arm cooperate with her wishes after so long without a great deal of use.

"Let me help?" Mary-Margaret implored, as she stood from her chair to perch herself carefully on the side of Emma's bed.

"I'm an adult. I should be able to do this for myself."

"You're an adult who was recently shot and almost died," her friend reminded her. "There's no shame in needing some help here, Emma. We all know you'll get your strength back soon enough. But until you do, let us help you?"

Ruby was watching them both with a sad smile on her face, but she nodded her agreement to Mary-Margaret's words and Emma sighed as she dropped the spoon down into her bowl. Being fed like a child felt completely humiliating, but she supposed it was better than spilling the dish all over her chest and lap.

Mary-Margaret was wonderfully patient with her as she helped her friend to consume her first meal since the accident. She didn't push Emma to have more than she thought she could tolerate, and she didn't pressure her into eating faster either. Emma assumed that it was the motherly instincts inside of Mary-Margaret that made her so good at this particular task, but she didn't want to voice those thoughts. That felt like adding a new layer of awkwardness to an already tense situation.

When she'd had as much as she could stand, Mary-Margaret set the dish off to one side and busied herself with tucking the sheets around Emma's form to make her feel more comfortable. As soon as she was happy with everything, she dropped down into the chair that Killian usually occupied and reached for her friend's free hand.

"I spoke to Belle," Ruby said suddenly, cutting through the tense silence that had formed in the room. "She's sending you all of her love and best wishes. She uh… she'd like to come and see you soon."

"Belle? Who's Belle?" Mary-Margaret asked.

"She's a friend we made at the first convention we went to, right Emma?"

Emma nodded her head in agreement before something suddenly occurred to her, and she turned to face her other friend. "Mary-Margaret, I'm so sorry. I…"

"It's okay. I understand."

"I lied to you. I shouldn't have done that. I just…"

"It's okay," Mary-Margaret repeated, as she squeezed her hand gently. "I understand why you did. I'm not gonna lie to you, Emma. I was a little hurt when I first found out that Ruby knew about your boyfriend and I didn't, but I know why you didn't tell me. I wouldn't have believed it without seeing it for myself. I mean… how many women end up dating the guy of their dreams?"

"Not many," Ruby threw in. "If they did, I'd be sharing a bed every night with George Clooney instead of Victor."

Emma snorted out a small laugh, even as the action pulled painfully on a number of her wounds. It was nice to know that while so much in her life had changed since the attack, not everything had.

"Belle probably won't be so understanding."

"I'm sure she will," Ruby told her friend. "Just explain to her why you kept it a secret, Emma. Let her know that at the time, it was new and you didn't want to jinx anything. And then tell her that you thought it would be easier for her to accept if she saw it for herself. Introduce her to Killian. Let the two of them get to know each other a little. Belle's not a spiteful or vindictive person. She'll understand why you kept this to yourself."

Emma nodded her agreement but she knew she wouldn't truly believe that Belle would forgive her for what she'd done until she heard those words from the woman herself. She only hoped that Ruby was right and that her attempts to protect her relationship wouldn't end up costing her a valued friendship.

"I wanna hear all about it when you're feeling better. Ruby told me the basics, but I'd like to hear about how you met and fell in love with Killian, when you're ready to tell me," Mary-Margaret said.

"I will." Emma knew she didn't have the strength for that conversation in her that evening, and she'd prefer to do it with Killian by her side. But the opportunity to finally tell her friend everything was one she wouldn't pass up. Mary-Margaret deserved all of the details, and she certainly deserved to hear them from Emma.

But with that realization came another. Emma wasn't quite ready to share the news about the baby she'd just lost, but there was something else she could share with her friends. Something else they both deserved to know.

"Killian and I are getting married."

Ruby's head whipped around to face her friend so fast that Emma was surprised she didn't give herself whiplash.

"When I'm out of here… out of hospital and on my feet again, we're gonna go somewhere and get married. I don't wanna waste any more time. Not with him. Not now."

"I don't blame you at all." Mary-Margaret squeezed her friend's hand affectionately before she added, "But you're not getting married without us. We've all been to hell and back again these last few weeks, Emma. You're our family, and Killian… he's become a part of our family too. We deserve to see you two get your happy ending. Let us be there for it?"

"Even if it's not in Storybrooke?" she asked. Because Emma couldn't face the idea of marrying the man she loved in the town where their child had been taken from them.

"Of course. I think it's time for Leo to see what life is like outside of this small town, don't you?"

"I think you should do it in Vegas," Ruby threw in, drawing confused glares from both of her friends. "Think about it. It's the place where you guys decided to make a go of this, so it's always gonna hold special meaning to you both. And who doesn't love Vegas?"

"I don't wanna be married by an Elvis impersonator in a Las Vegas wedding chapel." Emma was positive Killian would feel the same way about that issue. He'd want something more special and unique to them. Something that they could treasure forever and be proud of. Not some kind of movie cliché.

"Those aren't the _only_ places to get married in Vegas," Ruby chuckled. "You could get married outdoors, in the desert. I think I read this article a few years back about a couple who got married on a dried lake bed. It looked stunning, and it's so unique. I'm sure we could find something to suit you both there."

Emma had to admit that the idea of marrying the man she loved in the city that had been the turning point for their entire relationship was incredibly appealing. Especially after Ruby had managed to get the idea of a clichéd chapel ceremony from her mind, and had filled it with ideas of marrying outdoors instead. Killian would look good under the Las Vegas sun, his hair curling a little at the ends from the heat as he stood waiting for her in a dark suit.

"I'll talk to Killian about it," she promised.

"We could make some inquiries for you?" Mary-Margaret suggested excitedly. "Just so that you have some ideas to work with when you're feeling better."

Emma was pretty sure _that_ particular suggestion was more for her friend's benefit than her own. It would be a great way for Mary-Margaret to take her mind off everything that had happened, and Emma couldn't begrudge her that. She knew that she'd have needed something similar if their situations had been reversed. So instead of declining the offer, she gave her friends a soft smile of encouragement as she said, "Thanks. I'd really appreciate that."

A soft knock on the door had the women inside of it turning their attention that way just in time to see Killian pushing his way into the room, as David followed close behind him. But the two men weren't alone, and Emma's smile widened as she recognized the little dark-haired boy squirming away in his father's arms.

"Leo wanted to come and say a quick hello to his Aunty Emma," David explained.

With some help from Ruby and Killian, Emma managed to sit herself up a little further in the bed as she reached out for the young boy's hand and gave it a soft squeeze.

"Hey, Leo. I've missed you, buddy."

"Mmmmmaaa," Leo declared, and even though she was pretty sure it was just his own way of rambling out a greeting, Emma chose to believe that her nephew had picked that moment to say her name for the very first time.

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